As The Years Roll By
by TheChemistJorax
Summary: The universe is a chaotic creation, one that does little to perpetuate the idea of destiny on a grand scale. However, there are moments when two lives seem intertwined. Sometimes, friends are meant to be made. Sometimes, bonds are meant to endure. Completely AU
1. Chapter 1

A/N: In case you glossed over it, this is an AU fic. The only real difference of note right now is the age difference between Miranda and Oriana. They are now about seven years apart. Also, obviously as this is a modern day AU they are not genetically modified twin ladies. Just normal ladies. Unreasonably attractive, yes. But normal… , obviously no aliens in this. Names will be used for fun, but everyone will be human beings.

**WARNING** – This is a **_heavily _**dialogue based story. If you are looking for romanticized descriptions and long winded paragraphs look somewhere else as I was not in the mood. :p

* * *

The warm rays of the sun seeping through the high windows of the library did little to calm Miranda as she shifted about in the uncomfortable folding chair. She sat at a large round table, waiting for another student who apparently did not deem it necessary to arrive to their prescheduled appointment on time.

It was rather irritating, waiting for some kid from grade nine who was likely to drop out before graduation when she had so many more important things to work on. She still had sixteen acceptances to work through from the various universities she had applied to. The decision was a daunting one, and her father was pressuring her for an answer. She had only agreed to tutor struggling underclassmen for yet another bullet point to add to her college resume. Now that acceptances were in, it was merely an afterschool nuisance.

Still, the year was almost over and soon she would be on to bigger and better things.

About five minutes passed before a girl finally approached her. She was lean and muscled with short red hair that framed her face in an unruly manner. Miranda could tell right away she was an underachiever. Her slouched posture as she walked coupled with her tardiness gave that away all too quickly. Fighting the urge to roll her eyes, Miranda plastered a carefully practiced smile across her face. It was never a problem when she had to help a student who was genuinely struggling, but kids like this one always turned out to be a frustrating project.

"Hello," the girl said cheerfully as she plopped down in the chair next to her.

"You must be the student Mrs. T'Soni told me about," Miranda said in way of greeting, surprised that her visitor appeared to have an American accent.

The girl seemed to think about that for a moment, and then a wild grin spread across her face. "Jane. But my friends call me Shepard," she responded nonchalantly as she pulled her backpack up onto the table, opening the zipper to reveal a mess of crumpled papers and broken pencils.

"Fascinating," Miranda responded disinterestedly as she scrunched her nose up in disgust at the display before her. "So Mrs. T'Soni told me you needed assistance in algebra, Jane." Miranda emphasized the name.

Shepard put on a hurt face. "Are you insinuating that we aren't friends?" she asked with a sniffle.

Miranda groaned. This was all she needed, an obnoxious class clown. "Can we just get to work please? You've already cut our time short with your tardiness."

With a mock salute, Shepard nodded. "Yes, Ma'am."

"Okay," Miranda said with a heavy sigh. "Show me what your class is working on."

* * *

"Are you listening to a word I'm saying?" Miranda gasped out in frustration for what was unfortunately not the first time.

"Yes," Shepard responded in irritation. "And I'm telling _you _it doesn't make sense."

"God." Miranda dropped her head into her hands. "I have achieved top of my class every year I studied here, I think I know basic mathematics," she hissed aggressively through her fingers. In her entire year as a tutor she had yet to meet as frustrating a student as Jane Shepard.

"I do not doubt your intelligence," Shepard shot back. "I'm saying that algebra is stupid and the rules don't make sense and I'm never going to use this ever again."

"Then stop wasting my time and go. _I'm _not the one failing my class." Miranda dropped her hands to glare over at her peer. "Trust me, there are plenty of other ways I would rather be spending my Friday afternoon."

"Oh yeah sure," Shepard scoffed.

She was being provoked, Miranda knew it instantly. And yet, she could not help but fall into Shepard's trap. "And what does that mean?" Her words were like ice.

Shepard was positively unaffected by the animosity being directed at her. She merely offered her tutor a warm smile. "You wouldn't have gone home and relaxed. You're going to spend this whole weekend locked in your room studying and ignoring all forms of social interaction."

There was practically fire in Miranda's eyes. "You don't know anything about me," she all but growled out. "Either focus on the work or get lost. I don't have to put up with this. You need me. Not the other way around."

With a heavy sigh, Shepard sat back against her chair. "You're right. I'm sorry."

Miranda looked at her suspiciously, waiting for the twist. Surely the girl was going to turn it into a personal jab in some way or another. Her silence prompted a laugh from Shepard. "Are you always this trusting?"

With a haughty sniff, Miranda straightened up in her chair. "Fine," she relented at length, "I accept your apology." She glanced at the clock on the wall and a genuine smile graced her lips. She was free. "Looks like we are out of time though. Too bad," she said cheerfully despite Shepard's crestfallen look.

"Wait," Shepard said in a panic as she watched Miranda collect her belongings and stand. "I still don't understand all of this. I'm not even close to being ready for the next test, let alone end of the year exams."

Miranda grinned wickedly. "Not my problem."

As she moved towards the doors of the library, Shepard was in hot pursuit, stuffing the papers they had been going over haphazardly in her bag as they moved. "Wait, can we set up another meeting?"

Miranda cringed, she had been afraid of this. "There is nothing I can teach you when you're so obviously unwilling to learn, Jane."

Shepard moved in front of her, walking backwards when she realized Miranda had no intention of being blocked. "I'll be better, please. I promise I'll be on my best behavior." Her hands clasped together as she begged. "You have no idea how important this is to me. Please."

Surprisingly, Miranda found herself softening a bit at Shepard's begging. More than anything though, she wanted the kid to shut up so that she get on with her life. She should have left to pick up Oriana at the dance studio five minutes ago.

"Fine," she finally relented reluctantly.

"Fine?" Shepard's face lit up as they both halted their step.

"Yes." She rolled her eyes. "Now can I go please?"

"Oh, yeah," Shepard moved to the side sheepishly when she realized she was blocking the door. Miranda pushed it open and they passed through side by side.

"Why are you still following me?" Miranda groaned as she passed through the now empty halls of the school.

"Well when can I see you again?" Shepard pressed cautiously. She was quickly realizing that Miranda had something of a temper on her.

"I don't know," Miranda said with little interest. "When are you free?"

Shepard shrugged unhelpfully, causing Miranda to grit her teeth. "Listen, I'm in a bit of a rush here," she explained with the little patience she had left. "Can I just give you my number and we can work it out later?"

Smiling brightly, Shepard reached into the pocket of her tattered jeans to whip out her phone, punching the keys dutifully as Miranda recited them aloud. "Okay," Miranda said when they were finished. "I'll be going then."

Shepard nodded and seemingly understood the dismissal, but when Miranda started walking down the hall once more, Shepard continued to follow. She narrowed her eyes in irritation and quickened her pace, but Shepard kept up accordingly.

"Is there something else I can help you with?" Miranda said a bit too loudly as she spun on her heels to face the girl behind her.

Shepard held up her hands defensively. "This is the way to the parking lot."

Miranda's face flushed pink with hot embarrassment and she quickly turned back around without another word. They passed through the double doors out of their school quickly after that, and she noted with barely repressed ire that Shepard was still trailing her.

It wasn't until she had reached her car that the girl spoke up once more. Shepard was glancing around the parking lot with feigned awe. "Would you look at that, all the buses are gone."

Miranda panicked at the implication and quickly unlocked her car, jumping inside before Shepard could ask what she so clearly intended to. Apparently she wasn't quick enough however as Shepard's grinning face was peering in at her from the passenger side window, a heavy fist knocking on the glass obnoxiously. For a split second, Miranda contemplating merely starting the car and peeling out of there. Eventually though, she reluctantly rolled down the window at Shepard's gesturing.

"The buses are gone," she reiterated with a stupid smile on her face.

"I'm going to pick up my sister," Miranda shot back frantically in response, trying desperately to ward the irritating nuisance off.

"Oh don't worry about that," Shepard said cheerfully as she reached through the open window to unlock the door for herself. "I don't have a curfew."

* * *

"Why are you an eighty year old woman?" Shepard laughed as she flipped through the small book of CDs that she had found when she began searching through the glove compartment without permission.

Miranda sniffed, she should not have to defend her music tastes to a virtual stranger. "Just put it down before you break something."

To her surprise, Shepard complied. "This is a fancy car," she mused suddenly. "You must be pretty well off."

Miranda did not answer. Her family's financial status was none of Shepard's business.

"So where are we going?" She asked in a childish tone.

"I already told you," Miranda sighed. "I need to pick up my sister."

Shepard rolled her eyes, though she knew Miranda could not see the gesture. "I meant _where _are we picking her up?"

"_I_," Miranda amended quickly, "am picking her up from her dance class. And then I am taking you where ever you need to be as quickly as possible."

There was a short silence. "You don't like me very much, do you?"

Miranda gripped the steering wheel tightly. "Figure that out all on your own, did you?"

"Maybe if you weren't so stand offish you would have some friends," Shepard replied easily as she watched the cars speed by next to them. Miranda drove quite like an eighty year old woman as well.

"Who said I don't have friends?" Miranda shot back rather harshly. Once again, she was playing Shepard's game, letting the conversation continue. She _really _needed to stop doing that.

"I can just tell," Shepard laughed. "You are rather," she hesitated as she searched for the right word. "Prickly."

"Prickly?"

"Mmhmm," Shepard hummed as she looked over at the older girl. "Prickly like the Opunita."

Miranda raised an eyebrow in genuine surprise, which caused Shepard to grin. "Not just a pretty face, am I?"

"Don't insult me and then look for compliments," Miranda chastised her. "It demeans us both."

Shepard laughed incredibly loudly at that. "You are seriously like the most typical rich person I have ever met."

"You meet many do you?" Miranda shot back, clearly getting fed up with the whole conversation.

"I've met enough," Shepard replied cryptically. Miranda hated herself for the flicker of curiosity that lit up inside her at the comment.

Frustrated with herself, and even more so with Shepard, she took the right into the dance school parking lot a tad more forcefully than was strictly necessary.

"Wide turn," Shepard called out happily as she was jostled about in her seat.

There was a young girl waiting by the entrance to the building and as Miranda pulled up to the curb, Shepard was taken aback by how similar the sisters looked. The girl happily skipped off the sidewalk and up to the back door, climbing clumsily into the back seat in the wondrous way only children can.

"You're late, 'Randa!" She said with an exaggerated pout, clearly complaining merely for the fun of it.

"I'm sorry, Ori," Miranda responded quickly. Shepard was surprised how sincere she sounded. So far her experience with Miranda had been all scathing remarks and snarky rebuttals. "I was held up." She flashed Shepard a sideways glare as she spoke.

"That's me," Shepard claimed with a grin, turning around in her seat so that she offered a hand for the younger girl to shake, "Shepard the Hold Up."

Miranda's sister grinned and shook her hand with quite a bit of exuberance, "Oriana Lawson."

Miranda cringed at her sister's admission. Shepard's hum of understanding and dramatically slow turn around in her chair to face her new tutor said it all. "Lawson, huh? Well that explains the car."

She held her breath as she waited for Shepard to say something more now that she knew Miranda was the daughter of one of the most influential business men in current existence. However, nothing more came. Shepard was tilting her head back to face Oriana once more.

"Do you wanna switch seats?" she offered kindly.

"Sure," Oriana shouted excitedly.

"No, Ori," Miranda cut in. "Stay in the back, it's safer."

Oriana fell back against the seat with her arms crossed, a pout clearly plastered across her face.

"Not if you get rear ended," Shepard offered to Miranda quietly.

"Please stop talking."

"As you wish, Miss Lawson."

And there it was.

* * *

When she found out where Shepard lived, which happened to quite out of the way, Miranda knew she should get Oriana home first as it was on the way and her father would want her to be working on her homework since their piano instructor would be over earlier than usual in the morning tomorrow. When they pulled into the driveway Shepard let out a long low whistle.

"Wow you really are rich. Like, super rich." She looked up at the house in awe. It was massive; there was no other word for it.

Miranda groaned. "Just wait in the car and don't touch anything. I have to get Ori settled and make sure Samara is in to watch her while we're gone." She got out of the car and Oriana followed suit. Shepard was outside with them as quick as a flash.

"Woah now, I'm not going to pass up the chance to be in an actual mansion. No way am I staying in the car."

Oriana grinned, happy to have a new friend, before she charged up the walkway leading to the house. She had the door pushed open in seconds and they could hear her screaming throughout the house for Samara's attention.

Shepard looked over the top of the car at Miranda, "So Samara is your maid then?" The amusement in her voice was clear.

"Housekeeper," Miranda corrected defensively.

"Right," Shepard responded with a happy grin. "Shall we proceed?"

Miranda rolled her eyes and turned to head up the walkway towards the large wooden door Oriana had left open in her haste. Shepard kept right up behind her, relishing in every moment of this experience. When she had woken up that morning, she had most certainly not been planning on Miranda Lawson.

As soon as they walked through the doorway, a wild dark blur rushed towards Shepard, hissing ferociously. Shepard leapt back in surprise, causing Miranda to let out a genuine laugh for the first time since they had become acquainted.

"What the hell?" Shepard gasped.

Miranda scooped up the wild ball of black fur into her arms protectively, soothing it quickly by holding the wretched thing close to her chest. "This is Cerberus," she said with a happy grin when Shepard reached out a tentative hand only to have to quickly pull it out of the way of oncoming fangs. Shepard decided then that she wasn't much of a cat person. Plus, the thing had some crazy eyes.

"I see he takes after you," Shepard joked. She was surprised when Miranda actually laughed _with _her for once. It made the girl look younger, more human.

"Perhaps," she responded cheekily.

Shepard grinned, happy to see a lighter side to her new acquaintance. She was about to press further when suddenly Miranda's face fell. It contorted quickly into the more serious expression Shepard had gotten used to seeing on her, and her arms pulled around the cat in her arms more securely.

"Good afternoon, father," She suddenly said, her voice sounding surprisingly meek. Shepard spun around to find a tall, stern looking man standing behind her. "I didn't know you would be back so soon."

He ignored her greeting, his piercing gaze focused entirely on Shepard. "Who is this?" The question felt almost threatening to Shepard. It was clear that if she weren't the _right _person, she would not be around for too much longer.

"Jane Shepard, I am acting as her tutor." It was so incredibly crazy to Shepard, how the statement was practically a question. Miranda was not acting as her tutor until this man acknowledged she was. The tension in the air was near stifling.

"I thought that was only until four." He wasn't asking a question, he was stating a fact.

"It is," Miranda admitted reluctantly. "She requires some extra assistance however."

His gaze finally left Shepard, and flickered over to his daughter. "Don't let it get in the way of your own work."

"Of course, father," Miranda replied immediately.

The man nodded before pushing past them out the front door. The two girls were silent for a few moments, the only sounds to be heard were of Henry Lawson's car starting and peeling out of the driveway, along with Cerberus' contented purring in his owner's arms. When the sound of the engine died off, Shepard let out a long whistle. "Harsh."

Miranda shot her a glare. "Come on, let's make sure Ori found Samara."

* * *

Shepard was taken with Samara quite instantly. The woman was gorgeous. Not in merely a physically attractive way, but in a motherly way as well, Shepard thought. She seemed quiet and thoughtful, more likely to lecture than to scold. Everything about her screamed care taker, and though she appeared somewhat stern, Shepard could feel warmth in the woman's gaze.

"So I will be back in just a bit," Miranda finished as she had explained the situation to Samara.

"Make sure you do not take too long," Samara replied serenely. "Mr. Harper will be dining with your father here tonight, and I believe he wishes you to be in attendance."

Shepard felt weirdly uncomfortable after that. It was almost if the words had been a warning. She had been fooling around and enjoying herself by irritating Miranda. Shepard felt awful as it dawned on her that perhaps her presence was more than just an annoyance. If she got Miranda into trouble she would feel just awful.

"Hey," she said quietly to Miranda. "Don't worry about it. I'll find my own way back."

The older girl sized her up for a moment and then shook her head. "As much as I would love to make you, it doesn't make sense for you to walk from here. Let's just go now and be quick about it."

Shepard felt guilty but she had no choice except to agree. Miranda was clearly the kind of person who did not show hospitality easily, and if it got rejected when she did, it would only aggravate her further.

* * *

"It's the one up here on the left," Shepard pointed out as they travelled slowly down the street.

Miranda pulled into the driveway smoothly and pushed down lightly on the brakes, shooting Shepard an expectant look. Shepard grinned, sensing that Miranda was now more than ready to be rid of her. Of course, that only made the desire to stick around more prevalent.

"So," Shepard said with a sly smile, "when are we meeting next?"

"Excuse me?" Shepard laughed as Miranda sounded almost alarmed at the idea.

"To study," Shepard explained cheerily. "You still need to get me to pass that test."

"I don't need to do anything," Miranda shot back in irritation. She took a deep breath to calm herself before continuing when Shepard proved she wasn't leaving until she got an answer. "When is the test?"

"Monday?" Shepard said sheepishly.

"Oh my god," Miranda groaned. "I don't have time for this."

"Please," Shepard begged. "You're my only shot at passing."

Miranda looked straight ahead, and Shepard could practically hear the wheels in her head turning as she contemplated the practicality of juggling both Shepard's needs as well as her own.

"Come on, you've seen how dumb I am," Shepard pressed. "Only you are smart enough to get anything through my thick skull."

To her surprise, Miranda actually smiled. "Flattery will get you everywhere."

Shepard laughed, "I was counting on that."

After a moment, Miranda sighed. "Okay. I can squeeze you in after piano tomorrow. I have a couple hours of free time before I need to take Ori to her violin teacher's."

"Are you guys starting a family band?"

Miranda shot her a venomous look.

"Sorry I'll shut up." Shepard mumbled quickly.

"So is around nine okay?" Miranda continued as if she hadn't been interrupted.

"Sure," Shepard replied smoothly. She left out the fact that she did not get up until around midday on most Saturdays. Something told her Miranda would not find that too impressive.

"I'll come here then," Miranda said quickly. She didn't want Shepard to have another run in with her father so quickly. He clearly had been unimpressed.

"Sounds good to me," Shepard grinned as she opened the door to get out of the car. "Thanks for the ride," she called out before closing it behind her.

Miranda watched for a moment as Shepard walked up the brick pathway leading to the front door of her far more modest looking home before she shook her head and quickly backed out of the driveway.

* * *

As soon as she knocked on the door, Miranda heard the wild barking of a dog. Suddenly the barrier was opened and a large mound of bounding fur was leaping up onto her chest. She took a few startled steps back.

"Sorry, Garrus gets a little overexcited when we have company." Shepard said apologetically as she grabbed the dog's collar and pulled him back. He calmed down then, but still seemed quite interested in getting closer to their new guest. Garrus was a beautiful husky Miranda noted, but clearly a rambunctious one.

Miranda looked down on the animal reproachfully. "Garrus isn't a real name," she stated plainly.

Shepard looked astonished. "Really? Then why is my dog called that?"

Rolling her eyes, Miranda pushed passed the girl to move inside. Shepard knelt next to her pet and looked at him sternly, "When we first met did you give me a fake name?"

Garrus started at her thoughtfully for a moment, and then leaned forward to excitedly lick her nose.

"That's what I thought," Shepard answered sagely.

"If it's no trouble can we please just get to work? I have things to do, Jane." Miranda reminded her impatiently.

"You know, my friends call me Shepard."

"Good for them."

"Hello." Miranda was startled as an unknown voice filled the room. She looked up to see a middle aged woman standing deeper in the room.

"This is my aunt, Karin," Shepard explained as she stood.

"It's nice to meet you," The woman said kindly. Miranda liked her at once.

"Thank you for having me," Miranda responded, remembering her manners.

The woman smiled and then moved away to give them some space as Shepard shot her guest a cheerful grin. "Well come on. You should be honored; I actually cleaned off my desk last night." She said happily as she lead Miranda upstairs.

* * *

"You really need to lighten up," Shepard said sadly as Miranda sat grinding her teeth over the fact Shepard seemed incapable of retaining information for longer than two seconds at a time. "Hang out with some friends."

When Miranda glared at her Shepard merely grinned. "Oh right, sorry I forgot you don't have any."

"I have friends," Miranda shot back, hating how defensive she sounded.

"Like who?" Shepard pressed.

"Niket."

"Is Niket your boyfriend?" Shepard questioned with a sideway glance.

"Certainly not," Miranda said quickly, sounding completely appalled by the idea. "He has been my friend since I was a young girl; he is like a brother to me."

Shepard laughed. "Okay. He wants to be your boyfriend though."

Miranda's eyes narrowed. "I can assure you he does not."

After sizing Miranda up for a moment Shepard shook her head with a laugh. "Trust me; he wants to be your boyfriend."

"Can we please just get back to work?"

* * *

"Okay, so when you have x and y-"

*squeak* *squeak*

"On the same side of the equation like this-"

*squeak* *squeak*

"You just-"

*SQUEAK*

"Jesus, I can't bloody," Miranda cut herself off, trying to remain calm. She glared down at Garrus, who had his head in her lap, a tattered old stuffed rabbit lodged firmly between his teeth. He squeaked it once more for good measure while looking up at her with hopeful eyes.

She looked pleadingly at Shepard for help, but the younger girl only laughed. "Looks like somebody wants us to take a break."

* * *

"Yeah so while mom is off on duty," Shepard said as she tossed the rabbit across the room to Miranda, smiling when Garrus charged after it, "I stay with Chakwas here. I'll be going back home after the school year ends." They were sitting on opposite sides of Shepard's floor as they spoke, Garrus moving between them happily.

Miranda lifted the toy high in the air so Garrus could not reach it before tossing it back towards Shepard. The dog followed without missing a beat. "You don't have any other family in America?"

"Nope," Shepard said in her usual carefree manner. "Just me and mom. Karin isn't really my aunt either. They were just best friends growing up."

As Shepard tossed the rabbit back and Garrus followed with it, Miranda fought the urge to ask about Shepard's father. It wasn't her place. Despite herself, Miranda smiled as Garrus stood in front of her. His tongue was hanging out of the corner of his mouth in his excitement, and his eyes never left the stuffed doll for a second. Suddenly Miranda hid the rabbit behind her back, laughing when the dog looked bewildered at its disappearance and began sniffing the floor around her.

"Oh I wouldn't do that," Shepard warned her seriously. "He holds grudges."

* * *

Hours later, they stood rather awkwardly in front of Miranda's car. Shepard appeared hesitant at first, but finally she spoke. "Hey, just so you know, I really appreciate everything you did this weekend."

Miranda shrugged nonchalantly, though a small smile graced her lips. "Let's not make a habit of it."

Shepard laughed warmly, and Miranda suddenly felt compelled to say more even though she could not quite pinpoint why. "If you ever need help with anything else for class, let me know." The offer probably surprised herself more than Shepard.

The younger girl smiled sadly, "Thanks. I don't think you're going to be too keen on keeping in touch after this though."

Miranda tilted her head in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Shepard smirked. "Just a feeling. Call it woman's intuition." She shook her head for a moment, seemingly bewildered, and then continued, "Hopefully I see you around, Miss. Lawson."

Miranda rolled her eyes at Shepard's cryptic farewell before she moved to enter the car, knowing she had spent a fair bit more time with Shepard than she had ever intended.

* * *

Karin Chakwas was waiting for her young charge right by the door as soon as the girl returned. "What was that all about, Jane?"

"What?" Shepard responded innocently, though the wide grin she wore gave her act away.

"Nothing," Karin responded slyly. "You two were just very quiet up there."

"It was just math," Shepard laughed.

"You were doing math?" Karin replied in poorly hidden disbelief.

"Yup," Shepard responded cheerfully.

"_You_ were doing math?" The woman repeated. "For two and a half hours. You. Jane Shepard."

The girl's laugh was infectious. "What? I love math. I find math incredibly attractive."

Her guardian smiled in understanding then. "Just keep in mind I'm shipping you off back home in a few weeks when school ends and there won't be any math in America."

"I know," Shepard called back sullenly as she charged with Garrus up the stairs once more.

* * *

When Miranda had woken up on Monday she was not prepared for the events of the day to follow. It happened when she was on her lunch period, her nose stuck firmly in her history textbook. A tentative voice called out to her. "Are you Miranda Lawson?"

She looked up to find a younger girl standing over her, looking flustered and anxious. "Yes?"

"Oh. I'm Kimberly," she said quickly, as if that explained the intrusion. "I just wanted you to know that I am so sorry about last Friday. My mom had an accident and wound up in the hospital. I had to end up watching my brothers and just, oh it totally slipped my mind. I really felt awful about it when I remembered. I hope it didn't put you out at all." Her words were quick and weak as she spoke.

"I'm sorry," Miranda cut in, incredibly confused. "Do I know you?"

"Oh um, I thought…" she trailed off, embarrassed. "You were the one who was supposed to tutor me on Friday, right? For Mrs. T'Soni's class?"

Miranda's heart plummeted.

* * *

*Message Sent* 2:36 P.M

**_You are a fucking psychopath._**

*Message Received* 2:38 P.M

**_And good afternoon to you too._**

*Message Sent* 2:40 P.M

**_Don't ever contact me again._**

*Message Received* 2:42 P.M

**_If it makes you feel any better, I legitimately am bad at math._**

Miranda never responded, and their next meeting wasn't for another three years.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I know I say this with most of my stuff, but this isn't a plotty thing. Just a character thing :) Just letting people know in case they were looking for direction and story.

Oh and this is probably going to be about five chapters, just so ya know.

* * *

Miranda was sleeping soundly when the call came in, as all good students should be at the ungodly hour it was. The new school year was starting in a few weeks for her. The third year of university was notoriously the hardest, and though she had never really struggled academically, Miranda still found herself getting slightly nervous before each semester. And so, she had been going to sleep and waking earlier in preparation for her schedule, even though she didn't quite have that yet.

It was because of this, that she was so startled when her cell phone blared noisily on the bedside table by her head, jolting her into awareness. She peeked out from where she was snuggled under a mound of various blankets and glared at the offending device. If it was Oriana she was going to throttle her. Somebody had better be dying, she found herself thinking bitterly.

Reluctantly, Miranda reached out for the phone and looked at the screen, squinting as the light shone in her face. She was surprised when it showed a number that was not already listed in her contacts. For a moment, she contemplated letting it go to her voice mail as it was likely a wrong number, but it didn't take long for her curiosity to get the better of her.

"Hello?" she asked groggily.

"Miranda Lawson," the voice on the other end stated happily, sounding way to awake for the late hour. "Just the voice I was hoping to hear. I'm quite glad you kept the same number."

"Who is this?" she said defensively as she sat up in her bed. Miranda didn't recognize the voice at all, and the fact it seemed to know who she was had her a little on edge.

"You don't remember me?" the voice let out a mock gasp. "I'm wounded."

"Okay, I'm hanging up now," Miranda announced in irritation, trying to hide how nervous the stranger was making her.

"Wait, wait no," the voice cried frantically in her ear. "It's Shepard. Jane Shepard. You tutored me when I was a freshman?" she explained quickly. "Come on, you gotta remember."

Miranda's nerves quickly morphed into annoyance as the memories came rushing back to her. "You mean the psycho freak who told me nothing but lies and stalked me for almost an entire weeked?"

There was a soft chuckle. "Yes, Ma'am."

"Why are you calling me at this hour?" Miranda groaned. "That's incredibly inappropriate."

"Glad to see things never change," Shepard said genuinely as she was scolded. "I need to enlist your impressive skill set."

"At three in the morning?" Miranda griped.

"Yes." The voice paused as realization dawned. "Wait. Are you in America? Or was that impressive and rapid time zone math?"

Miranda hesitated for a moment, though deep down she knew the girl was harmless. "I am, yes."

"Really?" Shepard sounded positively delighted. "Where are you?"

Rolling her eyes, Miranda quickly shifted topics. "Is there a reason you are calling, Jane?"

"Oh, right. Sorry." She sounded almost embarrassed. "Um, I need tutoring. It's a math emergency."

"Emergency?" Miranda failed to hide the amusement in her voice at the statement.

"Yes. I am currently taking my online math placement test for college, and I'm a bit out of practice. It has been a long summer you see." She could practically hear the smile on Shepard's face.

"Where are you attending?" she caught herself asking curiously. Miranda blanched and then quickly kept talking before Shepard could respond. "Wait, don't answer that. I don't really care. Why can't you do this in the morning?"

"I have to finish the electronic test and have it sent along in an email by nine tomorrow. Or today, if you are feeling literal. Which I have no doubt you are."

"You woke me up at three in the morning to get me to do math for you free of charge so that you can cheat your way into a higher level course?" Miranda deadpanned.

"Yes." If she didn't know any better she would say Shepard sounded almost pleased with herself.

"What are you going to do when you can't handle that class because you can't keep up with your own abilities?" Miranda said through a yawn.

"Well, I put you on my speed dial." Shepard responded smoothly.

"Goodnight, Jane," Miranda replied sardonically.

"Wait! No!" Shepard cried, clearly panicked.

Miranda hung up. She settled back into bed with a contented sigh, pulling the excess of blankets up and over herself. It wasn't long before her eyes snapped open as the phone went off again. She reached over to cancel the incoming call. A few seconds passed, and again the phone rang. Miranda canceled the call yet again, and then turned her phone to silent. She placed it back on the nightstand. For a third time, Shepard was calling, and though the sound was off, Miranda narrowed her eyes as the light from the screen lit up the darkness of her room. She contemplated turning the phone off, but something held Miranda back. Instead, she found herself actually answering.

"Will you leave me alone, Jane?" she hissed into the receiver.

"Miranda. Thank god," Shepard said with a voice overflowing with mirth. "We must have a bad connection. Somehow I got mysteriously cut off."

"Tell me where you are," Miranda shot back with a voice dripping in venom.

"Why?" Shepard sounded almost excited at the prospect.

"So I can kill you."

"Oh hush," the girl said with a laugh. "You could do these problems in your sleep."

"If only I was allowed to sleep," Miranda lamented.

"Please, it's really important to me," Shepard pressed.

"No, Shepard. Not only do I have strong issues with cheating, but I want to figure out the solution that ends up with me never having to hear from you ever again."

"Ouch." Shepard was laughing quite heartily now.

"If I do this you'll be begging me to tell you the answers to your homework every night."

"It'll be great!" Shepard said with enthusiasm. "You will be like my personal math consultant."

"My dream come true," Miranda groaned through her teeth as she rolled over in her bed.

"Wow really? Someone with your talents should really aim higher, Miss Lawson."

"I hate you," Miranda responded without missing a beat.

"Is that a yes?" Shepard replied hopefully.

"No," Miranda said with conviction.

"You know I won't stop calling until I get what I want," Shepard warned.

There was silence on the other line as Miranda clearly was considering the validity of the threat. After a few moments Shepard grinned as she heard a defeated sigh. "Fine. Make it quick. How many questions are there?"

"Fifty six," Shepard answered cheerfully.

"Okay, what question are we on now?" Miranda sat up and let loose another yawn.

"Question one?" Shepard admitted sheepishly.

"I am going to slaughter you."

* * *

Shepard shrugged. "It's not gay if it's a three way," she explained simply.

Miranda's jaw dropped open in disbelief. "It is if it's three _women._"

With a laugh, Shepard waved her off dismissively. "Details."

Miranda shuddered at the mental image that created. "I'm glad you are using your time wisely to get the most out of your college experience and ensure success in the career you choose to pursue." She glared at the girl through the screen of her computer as she spoke; wondering for what was unfortunately not the first time how she went from solving math problems on the phone to listening to Shepard's sexual exploits over Skype in just a short couple of days.

"Thanks, Miranda," Shepard said with a grin. "Me too." There was silence for a moment and then Shepard questioned curiously, "Are you in New York?"

A wry smile graced Miranda's lips. "You already guessed New York," she reminded the girl.

"I know." Shepard shrugged. "But I don't think you'll tell me honestly if I guess right or not. You'll just say no to everything."

Miranda laughed. "Very astute. So why guess at all?"

Rolling her eyes, Shepard moved closer to the screen, "It's part of the game, and I just won. You are in New York City."

"What makes you so confident?" Miranda asked curiously.

"Well you are clearly in the same time zone as me, so that narrows it down. And yesterday when we were talking and you were sitting on the couch I could kind of see out your window. There is a pretty big building across the street. She looked thoughtful for a moment before shrugging. "Plus, the smart, driven, thing. Smart driven people are always living in New York."

Miranda couldn't help but laugh at that. "I'm impressed."

"So I'm right?" Shepard questioned with excitement.

Miranda merely gave her a mysterious smile in return. "Who knows?"

* * *

Miranda stepped out of the bathroom as she furiously ran her towel through her damp hair. She couldn't believe she had let Shepard talk her into this. It had not seemed like such a big deal at first, but now that it was getting closer and closer to seven o'clock, she found she was regretting the decision to listen to her friend.

Miranda pondered that for a moment. Friends, is that what they were now? Four and a half weeks of spotty communication and mock annoyance as they both tried to juggle the pressures of near adulthood. Yes, she supposed, perhaps it was something akin to friendship.

Her phone started ringing from where it rested on the top of the dresser. Without looking she knew it would be Shepard, no doubt excited to mock and torment her. She did not need to say anything when she accepted the call, Shepard was already talking.

"Getting all gussied up?" The amusement in her voice was palpable.

"No," Miranda shot back in irritation as she hung up her towel and moved back over to her dresser. "I just got out of the shower."

"Oh, forget the phone, we should be skyping."

Miranda groaned. "Knock it off, Jane."

"I _meant _so I could help you pick out an outfit," Shepard responded slyly. "Get you mind out of the gutter."

"Whatever you say," Miranda responded disinterestedly as she held the phone in place with her shoulder, using both hands on her hunt for clothing. "Is there a reason I'm talking to you right now?"

Shepard laughed. "No need to get so snippy. I was calling to wish you luck on the big date."

"It's not a big date," Miranda shot back, feeling defensive. "It's not a big anything. We're just hanging out."

"Hanging out with pressure."

"Pressure?" Miranda questioned distractedly as she struggled to shimmy into a pair of jeans while keeping the phone held up to her ear. She had to hop around a bit to slide them up over her hips. "I don't see how there's pressure."

"Oh there's pressure," Shepard assured her. "This is the second time you two are meeting outside of a school environment." She sighed wistfully then. "You're lucky your dad is paying for that nice apartment, now you don't have to worry about a roommate when you take him back home."

Miranda raised an eyebrow at the comment as she zipped up her pants. "I'm not you, Jane. I can manage to hold out for longer than a day before I sleep with someone."

There was silence for a moment, and Miranda found herself hoping she didn't offend the girl. Those fears were quickly assuaged however as a mischievous voice rang out. "You know, my friends call me Shepard."

Miranda was glad Shepard couldn't see her smile. "You have friends?"

Shepard laughed heartily at that. "Try not to have _too _much fun without me."

"No promises," Miranda responded cheekily before she hung up.

* * *

Miranda groaned loudly into the receiver, causing Shepard to pull her ear away from the phone. "You okay?" she asked with a laugh.

"Yeah, it's just," Miranda trailed off. "Hold on for a few seconds, I have another call."

"Okay," Shepard responded cheerily. She was home from school for the weekend, and enjoying herself immensely. Her mother was inside the house cooking what was sure to be a delicious diner, and she was in their sizable yard with Garrus, throwing a tennis ball around for the excitable dog as they enjoyed the fall weather. Life was good.

She was content to stay on for however long Miranda needed, but suddenly the line went dead. She pulled the phone away from her ear and gave it a curious look. Of course, in this situation the respectful thing to do would be to wait for Miranda to call back when she was able to. Shepard grinned as she thought about that for a moment, and then proceeded to call Miranda anyways.

"How rude," she huffed out as soon as the ringing ceased.

"Sorry about that," Miranda said quickly, sounding rather distraught.

"Woah, you okay?" Shepard asked, dropping all pretense of annoyance. Garrus ran up to her and dropped his ball at her feet but she ignored him. "What happened?"

"Nothing," Miranda said, clearly torn between feeling upset and feeling irritated. "My father just called."

"Oh," Shepard responded knowingly. "Do you wanna talk about it?" Garrus was nosing the hand that was dangling at her side in his impatience.

"Not really," Miranda answered quietly.

Shepard smiled; she had been expecting that answer. She knelt to finally pick up the ball and threw it as hard as she could to the other side of the lawn. Garrus charged after it, completely ecstatic. "Can I cheer you up?"

Miranda gave a wry smile, though Shepard could not see it. "Doubtful," she challenged.

"One sec," Shepard responded easily. Miranda held the phone away from her ear as Shepard was clearly jostling it around nosily. After a few moments, Miranda's phone alerted her that she had a new text message.

"Take a look at that." She heard Shepard say.

She opened the message to find a picture of Garrus sitting outside in the grass, his panting making it look like he was shooting a beaming smile towards the camera. He was wearing a blue and white plaid doggy sweater and pulling it off rather well. Miranda could not stop the laugh that bubbled up out of her. "Very dashing," she complimented.

"I'll tell him you said so," Shepard said with a happy grin.

* * *

"Jane, what are you even studying?" Miranda found herself asking through the computer.

The hour was late, and they both sat in their respective beds as they were on Skype with one another. They hadn't been conversing much that night. Shepard was trying to frantically catch up on some work she was behind on, while Miranda was efficiently getting a leg up on some of her own.

"Just a stupid general thing I don't care about," Shepard said with a huff.

Miranda smiled at that, "Yeah, I was wondering. I thought I remembered you saying you wanted to follow in your mom's footsteps when we were kids."

"We're not kids anymore?" Shepard looked horrified, earning a laugh from Miranda. She sighed after a moment. "Mom said I had to go to university first. I have to 'broaden my horizons' and not just blindly follow down the same path as her and dad."

Miranda hesitated for a moment, and then finally worked up enough courage to press Shepard further. "You never talk about your dad," she said carefully.

Shepard gave her a hard look for a moment, and Miranda was afraid she had stepped over a boundary she was never meant to. She was more than a little shocked when a smirk suddenly graced the girl's lips. "You never talk about your mom."

Miranda let out a dry chuckle. "Fair enough."

* * *

"I just can't even-" Miranda was so angry she could not even bring herself to finish the sentence.

For her part, Shepard was quiet on the other side of the emotionally charged phone call. Miranda refused to give out many details so once again, Shepard was left pretty much in the dark. All she could gather was that Miranda's father was kind of a dick, and that he was continually being a dick, which equaled a grumpy Miranda.

"I'm not just going to-" Miranda groaned. "He can't expect me to just-" she paused, breathing heavy. "I just want to do work I'm proud of. You know?"

"I know," Shepard replied, even though she was horribly confused and did not know much of anything at all.

* * *

"So right then and there I just told him it didn't matter. I would just buy the whole set!" Maya said shrilly and the whole group broke into disingenuous laughter save for Miranda. She had let her mind wander as her peers conversed, finding little of value in their discussion.

For some reason she could not help but think of Shepard and how much she would make fun of these snooty rich people for sitting around all day talking about how snooty and rich they were. She couldn't wait to be back at her apartment, laughing genuinely about it with her friend.

* * *

Miranda had been getting ready for a fourth meeting with the man at Shepard's own urging and _still _the woman had to bother her. She picked up the phone quickly after shrugging on her jacket. Already running late, this new delay from Shepard was sure to make her miss the arranged meeting time.

"This had better be good," she hissed into the phone immediately.

"Oh, sorry," Shepard sounded genuinely apologetic for once. "Are you busy? I can call you back later if it's more convenient for you."

Miranda paused for a moment in shock. "Are you okay?" she finally asked with a voice full of concern.

"Why, do I sound weird?" Shepard responded self consciously.

"No, you were just being unusually considerate," Miranda teased lightly.

Shepard offered a laugh, but it was devoid of any real humor. "Sorry, not one of my better days I guess."

"What happened, Jane?" Miranda was feeling seriously worried now.

"I just," Shepard hesitated. "Never mind, I shouldn't have bothered you."

"Jane," Miranda pressed, all thoughts of her night out forgotten.

"My mom called. I guess," there was a pause; "I guess Garrus died last night." She said it so quickly Miranda wasn't sure she heard the words at first.

"Oh, Jane," she said awkwardly, unsure of what to say. "I'm sorry. Really, I'm so sorry."

"Yeah, it was some weird stomach flipping thing. I dunno. There was nothing they could do."

"Are you okay?" Miranda asked stupidly.

Shepard laughed bitterly. "No."

They were both silent for a few moments. Suddenly Shepard was chuckling. "Sorry, I know you have all this real stuff going on and like seriously important problems with your dad and stuff. I'm just being stupid I guess."

"No, you're not," Miranda promised quickly. "What do you need?"

"You." Miranda's breath hitched for some reason she couldn't fathom. "Do you have time to Skype for a bit? It's okay if you're busy."

"No," Miranda said quickly, knowing she would have to send an apologetic text with a couple of half truths to explain her absence. "I wasn't doing anything at all."

* * *

"If you want him, come and claim him."

"Jane, the only surefire way to ensure I do not sit through the next eight odd hours of this is to quote every line."

"Sorry."

Miranda lay snuggled up under her usual mountain of blankets, watching with bored detachment the events on the computer in front of her. Shepard had been begging her for weeks to watch these films with her, and since it was the weekend coupled with the recent turn of events and the fact that Shepard's roommate was back home, Miranda had finally caved in out of pity. Of course, Shepard had left out the fact that what she owned were extended versions with hours of extra content until after Miranda had agreed. Now she was forced to lay there watching for hours, as Shepard had insisted on a marathon, experiencing a movie she did not care about over a laggy Skype connection. Briefly, she wondered why she let herself get talked into these things.

It was many hours - and snack breaks - later when Shepard was going to ask if she could pause the final film to make a quick bathroom run.

"Hey, Miranda," she called out only to be instantly shot down.

"Shhhhh," Miranda waved the girl away dismissively, her eyes glued to the screen.

"My friends, you bow to no one."

Miranda made and unintelligible sound in the back of her throat, to which Shepard nodded approvingly. She could definitely hold it in if it meant getting to see Miranda get emotional over fictional characters.

* * *

"So," Shepard said into the computer as she packed up a bag for the long weekend. "What are your plans for the holidays?"

Miranda shrugged as she watched Shepard folding up a couple of t-shirts. "Well obviously I'm flying back home for winter break." Miranda seemed to hesitate as she spoke, and Shepard could instantly tell she was holding back something. She knew the girl well enough by now not to push her though. When Miranda Lawson did not want to say something, she was not going to say a word about it and there was nothing anyone could do to change it.

Rolling her eyes, Shepard smiled. "I meant what about for Thanksgiving?

That earned a laugh. "I don't do Thanksgiving, moron."

"Everyone does Thanksgiving when they're in America," Shepard shot back good naturedly. "And Canada," she hesitated. "Different day though. I think. Don't people have like, harvest days and stuff?"

Miranda shook her head, "Your ignorance concerning the cultural differences of the communities in the world never fails to astound me."

Shepard flashed her a smug grin. "Why, thank you." She continued on as soon as Miranda stopped laughing. "Anyways, my mom said you can have dinner with us, if you want."

It took a minute for the offer to sink in. For some reason the idea felt weird, actually seeing Shepard in person again. She had been a face on a screen for so long now. "I don't know," Miranda trailed off.

"Up to you," Shepard said nonchalantly. "We're in Connecticut so it's not really that bad of a train ride for you."

Miranda smiled at that. "Assuming I'm in New York, of course."

Shepard nodded happily.

Nobody was more surprised than Miranda when she agreed to attend.

* * *

It was less awkward than she had anticipated, eating with solely Shepard and her mother. The woman appeared to have a stern side when the timing called for it, but she was nothing but warm and welcoming towards Miranda. At the beginning of the meal it was the usual chatter one had with adults. Where do you go to school? What do you study? Are you enjoying it? What are you going to be? Soon though, they grew more comfortable together and the obligatory question and answer session dissolved into light banter and happy chatter.

Miranda was surprised how comfortable and natural it felt to dine with them. Just as they were ready to start dessert the phone rang and Shepard's mother jumped up from the table to answer it swiftly. Shepard mouthed 'Chakwas' at her across the table, and Miranda grinned in return. When it became clear that Shepard's mom was not going to return for quite some time, Shepard cut them each a slice of pumpkin pie and lead Miranda out onto the front porch. There was a swing chair on the deck and Shepard motioned for her to take a seat.

"Are you excited to be heading back home soon?" Shepard asked as she picked at the food on her plate.

Miranda's face fell slightly, and she pulled up her legs so that she was sitting cross legged atop the comfortable cushions of the chair. Shepard rocked them gently with her feet against the porch railing just in front of them.

"I suppose," she responded quietly.

"It will be nice to see Oriana, I bet," Shepard offered in an attempt to lift the girl's spirits.

"Jane, I'm not going to be coming back," Miranda said suddenly.

"You're not going to come back and finish the semester?" Shepard was shocked. Miranda was so incredibly focused on graduating. It seemed unbelievably unlike her to just drop out more than halfway through the process.

"I'm not coming back period," Miranda said. "My father and I have been at odds about this for awhile, and I finally caved in. I'll be working with Mr. Harper's research and development teams."

"Wait a minute, what happened to doing work you were proud of?" Shepard reminded her.

"I know, Jane. I'm not exactly excited here." She sighed heavily. "It's just, if I leave now, I know where the pressure is going to fall. She'll do whatever he asks, she always has. She just wants his approval, and," Miranda dropped her head into her free hand as she tightly gripped her plate in the other. "Ori has dreams and ambitions and friends and a life. I can't let her sacrifice all that so I can be selfish."

"Wanting a life of your own isn't selfish," Shepard offered unhelpfully.

"It feels like it sometimes. I just want her to be happy."

"I know," Shepard relented sadly. "I just wish you didn't have to sacrifice your own happiness in the process." They were quiet for a moment and then Shepard bumped her shoulder gently. "So what is the big dream?" Miranda gave her a quizzical look. "Ori's," Shepard clarified. "Let me guess. A rocket scientist? Brain surgeon?"

Miranda smiled. "She wants to go into residential development."

Shepard barked out a laugh. "I could tell she was a weird one."

Humming in agreement, Miranda had an affectionate smile on her lips as she thought of her little sister. They sat in companionable silence for a few moments, each picking at the pie on their plates absently.

"Well," Shepard finally sighed out, breaking the stillness of the chilly November air. "If this was to be your first and last Thanksgiving, Miss Lawson, I hope I made it a memorable one."

Miranda chuckled and leaned forward in the chair, watching the ground sway slowly beneath them as Shepard's legs kept up the steady momentum. "It wasn't completely intolerable."

* * *

"Keep in touch," Shepard had said as Miranda had hung up the phone just before her flight.

They tried of course, but somehow life managed to get in the way in that way that life often does. There were new jobs, and heavy school workloads, and overbearing fathers, and opinionated mothers and the phone calls grew more and more infrequent until without realizing it, they had not spoken for almost six years.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I'm having a lot of fun with this. I love a good relaxing laid back trip. It's nice to write and end up feeling like you're just hanging out with some friends.

* * *

Miranda would have scolded her profusely had she known what Shepard had done. As it went, however, she had no idea what was going on on the other side of the phone that night. All Miranda knew was that she had just gotten off and obnoxiously long flight from Sydney to JFK and it was late, and she was exhausted, and it was cold, and her head was pounding, and apparently all of her old university acquaintances had moved on in the years since her departure and she really, desperately, needed a miracle. She had nothing on her. No clothes, no money, nothing.

It had been a leap of faith, dialing that number. Funny, it had not even been programmed into her new phone. Miranda had a tendency to delete old contacts whenever she had upgraded to a new model on her contract. Somehow though, she still remembered each number as if she had been dialing that particular sequence all her life.

It rang once, twice, three times. Miranda's heart sank. Even if it had still been her number, clearly Shepard was unavailable. She really was on her own.

Just as Miranda was ready to hang up, a breathless and beautifully familiar voice called out. "Hello?"

Miranda released a heavy breath she hadn't realized she had been holding and sniffed back a couple of tears that had been threatening to fall. "Jane." Was all she managed to say as relief washed over her.

There was a long pause then as she realized Shepard was most likely trying to place her. "Miranda?"

"Hi." Miranda suddenly felt very self conscious. She knew nothing about this woman any more. Shepard was a complete stranger for all intents and purposes. So much time had passed, and they had been so young, it was foolish for her to expect Shepard to be the same person she had been.

"Miranda Lawson, I was wondering when I'd be hearing from you. I thought maybe you got too upper class for a peasant like me." Or maybe, Miranda thought wryly, she was _exactly _the same.

"Were you busy?"

"Not in the slightest."

"Jane," she said after taking a deep breath. "I'm afraid I've gotten myself into a bit of trouble."

"Trouble?" Shepard's voice was brimming with concern.

"Yes," Miranda said evasively. "I find myself in the unfortunate position of asking for your help."

There was a hearty laugh. "I see the years haven't changed you. So what can I do for you?"

"Do you still live in Connecticut?" Miranda reached into her pocket. She probably had enough cash on her for a train ticket, but little else. She prayed silently that wanderlust hadn't taken a hold of her old friend and the woman wasn't on the other side of the country somewhere.

"No." Miranda cringed inwardly. She was in a lot of trouble now. "I'm in New York."

A wide grin broke across Miranda's face, for once in her life, she felt lucky. "Are you feeling hospitable?"

* * *

Shepard hung up the phone; Miranda had guessed she would be over in as little as twenty minutes. She moved back into her bedroom smiling mischievously at what would have been her latest conquest as he sat on top of her comforter, half dressed and looking incredibly confused.

"Yeah, you're gonna have to go ahead and leave now."

* * *

"You just left?" Shepard's voice was practically overflowing with amusement.

"I just got up and l looked in the mirror and I just _knew_. I knew if I went into that building just one more time I would never be able to live with myself." Miranda sat cross legged on the couch, angled sideways so she faced Shepard as she spoke.

"What exactly were you doing?" Shepard questioned cautiously, not sure she wanted to know the answer.

"Stuff," Miranda sighed out heavily. "Lots of stuff."

Shepard accepted that, much to Miranda's relief. Initially, it had been quite awkward. She had been rather nervous as she climbed the stairs up to Shepard's apartment door. Even when their communication was at its peak, they had never really seen each other physically. They had sized each other up for a moment after Shepard opened the door. Though she knew she shouldn't have been, Miranda was surprised by how much Shepard had changed. Her red hair was still just as unruly and wild, but she was much sharper now. The leftover chub of childhood had finally departed and her face was more angular. Miranda was struck with the sudden idea that had Shepard been an angry person, she could easily be quite intimidating.

They shared an incredibly brief and awkward one armed hug as Miranda thanked her once again for her generosity. Shepard waved it off, and now they sat on the couch discussing Miranda's little rebellion. Shepard was absolutely thrilled to hear about her disobedience, which made the conversation surprisingly light hearted and playful despite the serious nature of it. Miranda had forgotten how easy it was to laugh when Shepard was around.

"Well, I have to hand it to you," Shepard said with a smile. "I wouldn't have been brave enough to just get on a plane like that."

"Stupid, you mean," Miranda corrected with a groan. "I don't have _anything _but a passport." She pulled out her wallet from her front pocket and dug out a few credit cards. "I'm sure these were cancelled by now." Miranda shook her head. "Every cent I made, just like that. All gone, and now I have to work out all the immigration stuff." She looked almost mystified by the idea. It was a massive undertaking.

Shepard raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "He can do that?"

Miranda scoffed. "He's Henry Lawson," she said bitterly as she crossed her arms. "He can do anything he wants."

Shepard nudged her knee playfully. "Everything except tell you what to do."

Miranda couldn't help but smile at that. "I suppose not."

"What about your sister?" Shepard questioned softly.

"She's about to start at a university in London," Miranda said happily. She seemed to swell with pride at the thought. "She probably has no idea I left yet."

"Wow, Ori is a college kid now," Shepard mused. "When did we get so old?"

"Speak for yourself," Miranda countered with a smile. Her face fell quickly though. "Listen, Jane, I really appreciate this. I promise-"

"Don't worry about it," Shepard cut in easily. "Take as long as you need to get back on your feet." She looked around the small apartment thoughtfully. "It's no mansion but it's a roof over your head."

Miranda ducked her head, embarrassed. "Thanks, Jane."

"And I only charge fifty bucks a night."

"Ass."

* * *

"Here you go," Shepard said as she scanned the paper in front of her. She lay on her bed on her stomach, legs bent into the air swinging childishly. "You could wait tables."

Miranda leaned over her shoulder from where she sat up next to her friend, holding a laptop steady in her lap as she did so. "Oh great, I can take _more_ orders."

Shepard chuckled. "You should think about it. You'd get a lot of tips."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," Shepard responded slyly.

Miranda rolled her eyes, "Stop trying to find part time stuff. I'm qualified to do much more."

"I know," Shepard sighed out. "I still think you should go back to school though. You were all about it."

"I was," Miranda admitted. "But I can't really afford to do that now. I need to have a steady income, and I have more than enough experience to get hired for a decent job."

With a laugh, Shepard caught her eye. "You could probably make more than me in an instant. I don't think you're going to find difficulty being hired somewhere. Yes, fine, you don't _need _to. I just," Shepard hesitated. "I dunno, I think finishing school is something that's important to you and it would make you feel better about this whole process." Miranda flushed at the words as Shepard continued. "You left so that you could be free to do what you wanted to do. So, do it. You've come this far, don't hold back now."

"What happened to you, Jane?" Miranda questioned suddenly. "Why aren't you doing what _you_ wanted?"

Shepard's shoulders sagged and her face darkened. "Things changed. It doesn't matter. It wasn't a dream for me; it felt more like an obligation." She managed a small smile for Miranda's benefit. "I'm okay here. Things are good."

Miranda gave an apologetic smile. Sometimes Shepard could be such an enigma, even to her. She wished she could press the woman further, but she knew when to quit. "Okay," she finally said.

"Okay?" Shepard questioned with a grin brightening her features.

"Yeah," Miranda said. "Maybe I'll give going back a shot."

* * *

"What about this one?" Shepard pointed at the glass enthusiastically.

Miranda shrugged beside her. "They all look the same to me."

"Miranda," Shepard chided jokingly, "this is serious business. A little more involvement would be appreciated."

"I don't care, just pick one. Those birds are making me nervous," Miranda moaned as she eyed the parrots lined up in wire cages to the left of where they stood.

"You're afraid of _birds?" _Shepard laughed.

"No," Miranda sniffed self consciously. "Just the big ones."

Shaking her head, Shepard jabbed at the glass display once more. "I like the brown and white one. Classic."

Miranda rocked on her feet impatiently. "Fine by me."

"Oh but what about the gray one?" Shepard asked suddenly as it caught her eye.

"How about we just grab any one of them because they are all going to end up biting you anyways and you'll be bored with it within the week?"

"Harsh," Shepard said with a chuckle. "The brown and white one it is."

Shepard paid for the hamster herself, but she still insisted that it was _their _hamster no matter how much Miranda protested otherwise.

* * *

"Nerd Alert," Shepard called out as soon as she entered the apartment and caught sight of Miranda on the couch. The woman was surrounded by textbooks and notebooks, staring down at them with a fierce intensity. She mumbled an unintelligible greeting at Shepard's intrusion, too absorbed in her work to give her friend much notice.

It wasn't until Shepard was kneeling in front of her with an accusatory glint in her eye that Miranda glanced up.

"Are you wearing my Space Commander sweater?" Shepard asked harshly.

"Yes?" Miranda was confused. It wasn't the first time she had stolen an artifact of Shepard's clothing for her own purposes. It was all Shepard's fault anyways; she was the one who refused to turn up the heat.

"You can't wear my Space Commander sweater," Shepard said simply.

Miranda raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"You're not a space commander," Shepard replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

With a groan, Miranda fell back against the couch. It wasn't the first time this had come up, and unfortunately for her it most likely wouldn't be the last. "I'm not going to play your stupid space game, Jane."

"It's not stupid. It's glorious and wonderful and you are missing out."

"I think I'll live." Miranda hated how she failed at hiding how amused she really was. Shepard was becoming quite adept at getting her to lighten up these days.

"One hour," Shepard begged.

"No," Miranda replied with conviction. "I need to finish this up."

"Half an hour?" It was a barging game now.

"No, Jane." Miranda turned back down towards her books.

"Twenty minutes, and I won't bother you for the rest of the night."

Miranda contemplated this; it was an incredibly tempting offer. Shepard was far more than a mild pest, she turned be annoying into an art form. Sacrificing twenty minutes now would be more than worth the payoff as long as the woman stuck to her side of the deal.

"And I can wear the Space Commander sweater?" she teased.

"Well, you would be a space commander in the game Space Commander. I suppose I'd have to allow it."

"Deal," Miranda finally agreed with a laugh. "But remember, twenty minutes and then you have to leave me alone."

"Scout's honor," Shepard said solemnly as she held up a hand.

They played for three and a half hours.

* * *

"You are late, lady," Shepard called out as soon as she heard the door of the apartment burst open.

"I know," Miranda said in between her heavy panting as she shrugged out of her jacket and quickly moved to join Shepard on the couch. "There were these two old men who took forever to finish eating and I had to hover over the table because Jack is always swiping tips. I honestly don't know why she hasn't been fired yet."

"Your workplace rivalries are fascinating, Miranda," Shepard assured her. "But be quiet because the commercial break is almost over."

"Oh, how much did I miss?" Miranda asked as she pulled her phone out of her pocket to glance at the time.

"Just the opening number," Shepard replied. "You'll like this one, it's really depressing."

Miranda laughed and was about to defend herself but was shushed as their movie came back on. She would never say it out loud, but Saturday movie nights were quickly becoming the highlight of her week. It was so interesting, having Shepard expose her to all the films she had missed out on growing up. They were stories that had defined generations, and though she may not love them all, she relished in the experience.

Also, Shepard had reminded her more than once, it was pretty awesome soaking in everything her father had tried to keep her away from for so long. There was that too.

* * *

It was when Miranda was getting comfortable in her new life, juggling school and work with ease, enjoying the late nights with Shepard, that yet another curve ball was thrown her way. She knew it was stupid to care about it; it really was none of her business at all. Shepard could do whatever she wanted; she didn't have to answer to Miranda. And yet, there was this nagging feeling deep in her gut that wouldn't go away.

Shepard was always disappearing on her. There would be night she wouldn't come home, days she would be gone for hours without a word. There were men and women, but never so in Miranda's face before. They never were taken to _their _home, never seen more than three or four times. They hardly affected her in the slightest. And then there was Kelly.

What was so special about her? What made her the exception to Shepard's apparent rule of spending more than a week at a time in the company of a significant other? It didn't matter, really. She was just curious of course. It wasn't a big deal, having Kelly around. It didn't change thing.

Except it changed _everything._

Because suddenly, things were getting a bit more crowded. There was less room on the couch and less time alone and it was ruining the flow of things. That was what Miranda told herself. That was why she found the girl so irritating. They had set up a routine. Miranda loved routine. Kelly disrupted the routine. Hence, Miranda was perfectly within reason to hate Kelly.

Right?

Right.

No other reason.

Kelly was bubbly and invasive, and it didn't matter how much she bent over backwards to be kind to Miranda because once you intruded on movie night there was no going back.

Shepard seemed to think she was pleased with the new change of pace. "I'm out more, so you don't have to deal with me bothering you while you study," she had said once. "It must be great getting time away from me."

It was certainly true. Shepard had become very distracted by the new woman in her life. She didn't spend half as much time fussing over Miranda's work schedule or calling her a geek. There was no more groveling for attention or two in the morning wake ups because some channel or another was showing reruns of I Love Lucy. But good god did those two have to kiss _so much?_

Miranda was positively miserable. Only because of the routine disturbing thing of course. Nothing else.

Right?

Right.

* * *

It was yet another Saturday night, and Miranda was surprised to walk into the apartment after work and find Shepard waiting for her on the couch alone. Pleasantly surprised.

"No Kelly tonight?" She questioned as casually as she could as she moved to sit beside Shepard.

The woman shrugged. "Nah," she sighed out, "I needed some space."

"Oh," Miranda awkwardly made to stand up.

"You don't count, you freak," Shepard said with a laugh. "Plus, I thought we had set plans." She waggled a DVD case in front of Miranda's face.

Her nose scrunched up. "A cartoon?"

Shepard grinned. "Don't get all high and mighty. This is a good one, I promise."

Miranda snuggled into the couch with a sigh of happy contentment. "Why? Is it full of depression and death?"

"As much as I know you love the dark films," Shepard responded as she got up to put the disc in the player, "I think you'll find this one more than tolerable. Just keep an open mind."

"Whatever you say, Jane." Miranda crossed her arms, hugging herself.

When Shepard turned back from the television to face her she let out a small chuckle. "Do I need to get an obscene amount of blankets for her highness?"

Miranda's brow furrowed at the jab, but she was smiling. "I wouldn't be opposed," she admitted at length.

"Just a moment," Shepard said cheerfully as she disappeared down the short hallway and into her bedroom. She came back just seconds later, dragging her heavy comforter along the ground behind herself.

As she watched Shepard move towards her, a weird feeling was stirring in Miranda. It was as if she were being tugged on, pulled. It wasn't the first time it had happened, and it had been occurring more and more frequently since Kelly had been around. Miranda couldn't help but blurt the words out suddenly. "Why did you do it?"

Shepard froze, looking utterly confused. "So we wouldn't get cold?" she tried after a few seconds, not quite sure what she was supposed to say.

"No, moron," Miranda said with an affectionate smile. "Why did you come up to me when I was waiting for that other girl all those years ago? Why did you lie?" It had been bothering her for ages, if she were honest. She wasn't sure what Shepard had gotten out of the experience, or even what she had aimed to get out of it. Shepard wasn't the insane stalker Miranda had originally pegged her as, so what else was there?

"I didn't lie," Shepard defended. "I just," she paused, "didn't correct you, if you recall."

"You walked up to me and told me I was supposed to be tutoring you," Miranda said with a mock glare.

"No I didn't," Shepard maintained. "I said hello and sat down. You did the rest of the talking."

"I think your memory is a little biased."

"Well, we'll have to just agree to disagree, won't we?" Shepard was wearing a broad smile, tongue poking cheekily between her teeth.

"I suppose we will," Miranda replied with a quiet laugh. "So, why?" she eventually pressed again.

"Why what?"

She rolled her eyes. Shepard was just being intentionally difficult now. "Why did you do it?" she reiterated.

Their eyes met for a moment and that weird pulling sensation was expanding in Miranda's gut once more. She unconsciously gathered her legs up close to her chest protectively, shying away from the intensity of Shepard's gaze. Her friend's eyes were swimming with disbelief and some other emotion Miranda had no name for. Shepard was about to say something, and Miranda did not know if she could handle hearing it. The weight of the air in that moment was unbearably heavy, and then, in an instant, it was gone. The weight, the feeling, the look, all of it vanished.

Shepard shrugged as she shook out the blanket. "I dunno," she laughed. "I was bored and you were hot."

Miranda shook her head, still a bit overcome by her wayward emotions to get truly annoyed with the statement. "You're such an ass."

"Maybe," Shepard said with a grin as she plopped down beside her friend. "Why didn't you block my number?" she asked suddenly, catching Miranda off guard.

"What?"

"My number," Shepard reiterated. "I called you at three in the morning and you could have blocked my number. You could have even just turned off your phone."

Miranda was silent for a moment as she pulled the blanket up around herself. "I don't really know," she finally whispered. "I just didn't." It just didn't feel right to, she thought. It would have felt wrong.

Shepard grinned at her and reached over for the remote, starting up their movie. "Then I guess to really answer your question all I can say is, I just did."

* * *

It was actually Shepard who had had the idea. It was summertime and Oriana's birthday was coming up. Though Miranda was being her notoriously vague self when relaying the details, from what Shepard could gather the younger Lawson sister had been none too keen about spending the weekend with her father. She had proposed that the girl come and visit, and she had taken to the idea quite wholeheartedly. Miranda had been hesitant at first, but Shepard had stated that if they took care of the airfare, then her father really wouldn't be involved. In the end, she and Shepard had ended up paying for the ticket together. Miranda had protested profusely of course, but Shepard assured her it was their joint gift to the younger girl.

That was how they found themselves on a Friday afternoon in their miniscule kitchen, trying to work out the logistics of being actual functioning human beings. Miranda was staring intently at her laptop where it rested on the counter. "Jane, this looks pretty complicated." It wasn't the first time those words had passed her lips that day.

"Come on," Shepard pressed. "Just tell me what is next."

"Okay," Miranda trailed off as she scrolled down the screen. "Wait, did you forget to preheat the oven?"

"I thought that was your job," Shepard griped loudly.

"Yes, Jane. Whenever I am about to do something I announce it to you," Miranda shot back dryly. "Obviously, if I said it out loud it was your job."

"Well fine, I'll do it now," Shepard huffed. She moved towards the oven and stared at it.

"Three hundred and fifty degrees," Miranda called over her shoulder.

Shepard stared intently at the oven in silence for a few seconds, before her friend groaned and pushed past her. "Honestly, Jane, at least learn how to turn it on. How did you survive before I got here?"

With a laugh, Shepard responded swiftly. "I singlehandedly kept the Chinese takeout place down the block in business I'll have you know. I was doing my part to preserve an industry."

Miranda hummed in amusement as she turned back towards the computer. "Just get ready to start on the frosting."

"Why is the most complicated recipe on the face of the planet?" Shepard whined as she read the instructions over Miranda's shoulder. Her friend stiffened at her sudden proximity. It was just surprise, she would later tell herself when she kept reviewing the moment in her mind before bed that night. But surprise didn't really explain her response, did it? It didn't excuse the rush of heat flooding through her system or the trail of goose bumps left behind as Shepard's breath grazed across her neck.

"You picked it," she reminded the woman with a shaky breath. Her friend. Shepard. Shepard her friend. Friend. That was all.

Shepard laughed, the air expelled driving Miranda to shudder. "Well I guess the word extreme is in the title."

Miranda swallowed, she tried to focus on their usual friendly banter. Friendly being the keyword there. Friends, she reminded herself once more. Friends. "I was fine with the _normal _chocolate cake. You needed the next step up."

Thankfully, Shepard took a step back to return to their utensils, getting ready to make some headway on their project. "If anyone in this world can handle an extreme dessert, Miss Lawson, it's us."

Regaining her composure, Miranda moved to stand next to Shepard. "Let's give it a shot."

* * *

Oriana was staying for almost a week, but that did not stop Miranda from rolling her eyes when Kelly strolled into the apartment, stealing away some of their precious time together. They got along famously, the pair of them. Both girls had similar outgoing personalities, and wound up chattering endlessly with boundless energy for most of the night. Oriana seemed fascinated with Kelly's psychological studies, which resulted in Miranda getting to listen to her entire life story.

Mirnada reminded herself several times that she wasn't a jealous person. She told herself she should be excited that Oriana had interest in so many different fields. It was stupid to dislike someone such as Kelly who was nothing but kind. And yet, somehow she did, because Kelly was worming her way into _everything. _Miranda could not control the possessiveness that was crawling through her skin.

This was _her _apartment.

This was _her _sister.

This was _her _Jane.

No.

Friend Jane.

Her friend Jane.

* * *

It was Oriana's last night, and after spending days exploring the tourist hotspots, the girl wanted to relax with her friends and watch a movie. When she got up to head into the kitchen and make them some popcorn, Miranda followed instantly. She had no interest in sitting in silence while Shepard and Kelly sat snuggled up together beside her.

She watched Oriana quietly as her sister unwrapped a bag and placed it in the microwave. "What do you think of Kelly?" she blurted out suddenly, trying to sound as disinterested as possible.

"She seems nice," Oriana responded, a knowing smile on her lips. "Apparently she is super into her work. Jane said a lot of practices are putting quite a bit of effort into getting her on board."

Miranda's eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms in annoyance, much to her sister's amusement. "Jane doesn't even _like _psychologists."

Oriana giggled quietly. "She calls her Shepard, I noticed," she said to offer some comfort.

"Yeah, she makes everyone do that," Miranda groaned. "It's really stupid."

Oriana shrugged. "Not everyone."

* * *

Oriana had long since left and as each day went by Miranda was growing more and more uncomfortable with her situation. It was all getting rather ridiculous. There had been something between her and Shepard of late. Something was off and it was getting worse by the hour. It also appeared to be something that frustratingly was not affecting Shepard in the slightest.

Summer went and fall rolled in, bringing Halloween and Thanksgiving along with it. Those things in themselves wouldn't have been problematic whatsoever if it had not been for Shepard's actions. Kelly and Shepard had been invited to more than one Halloween party, something that appeared Kelly was quite intent on attending. Shepard had backed out at the last minute however claiming a cold, and Miranda found herself enjoying the evening immensely, spending the time by handing out treats to the few children that came through their building while watching a marathon of truly awful old horror flicks with her sniffling best friend.

Next came Thanksgiving. Kelly, who was apparently very close with her family had begged and pleaded with Shepard to fly back down with her to Florida, but in the end Shepard had maintained that she could not leave her mother alone for the meal. The end result left Shepard and Miranda riding a train into Connecticut for the weekend, hamster in tow, laughing and chatting excitedly the entire way.

The Christmas season rushed in like a bull after that. Kelly was around for the process yes, but Miranda was able to enjoy most of the more important traditions with Shepard alone. Her favorite of which being when Kelly was at work and they found themselves struggling to drag a small tree through the snow covered sidewalks of the city, laughing as it frequently slipped from their grasps and apologizing profusely to all of the strangers they knocked into in the process.

Two days before Christmas a package arrived from Oriana. She clearly had to do it behind their father's back so it was a small and hastily done effort merely filled with different treats and goodies from across the sea, but it was appreciated all the same. Most of all by Shepard, who was keen to try everything. She had had most of it before, as she had spent nearly a year with Chakwas in her teenage years, but a few things had slipped by her notice.

"Yeah it's great," Miranda assured Shepard with a mischievous grin. "Just take a big spoonful, you'll love it."

Shepard sniffed at the open jar in her hand suspiciously. "I tend not to enjoy foods that so closely resemble poop."

"Oh don't be so gross," Miranda urged. "Give it a shot. It's just like a spread. You put it on toast and things."

"Toast and things," Shepard repeated softly as she prodded the concoction. Miranda looked far too excited for her to feel completely comfortable with this. "Here goes," she said bravely as she dug her spoon into the container and brought it to her mouth. Immediately she began gagging, to which Miranda could not help but break into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

"Why would you people make this?" Shepard cried in disgust, her face still scrunched up in revulsion.

"It's good," Miranda insisted through her amusement.

"It's created from the tears of orphaned wallaby children," Shepard wailed with her tongue hanging out.

Miranda broke into a fresh wave of giggles at that. Shepard was still making faces when her friend finally calmed down. She felt a bit guilty, and shuffled through Oriana's package, looking for the one item that was sure to cheer Shepard back up.

She pulled out the box as soon as she located it, quickly pulling open the wrapping and holding it out towards Shepard. "TimTam?"

Shepard's eyes narrowed skeptically. "I don't trust you anymore."

Miranda scoffed. "It's just a biscuit."

"Yeah, and the last monstrosity was 'just a spread'."

With a laugh, Miranda took one for herself to prove it was harmless. "It's chocolate," she assured Shepard before taking a bite.

"I'll try _one_," Shepard said cautiously, feeling a bit more confident at the mention of chocolate. She ended up devouring six.

* * *

It was the next two days that lead Miranda to making the decision. Kelly and Shepard got into a bit of an argument, once again trying to figure out where the festivities were to be held for them. Shepard later told Miranda in confidence that she thought it was far too soon for them to be setting up a back and forth type deal. Kelly was the one who had been pushing for that. They go to her family's place this year and then spend it with Shepard's mom the next. "What happens if we split up and I wasted a year with some people I'll never see ever again?" Shepard had said. "I'm not leaving mom alone for a stupid thing like that."

Miranda wanted to say that when you really loved someone sacrifice's like that probably didn't feel so difficult anymore, but she knew that would be a petty thing to do. Instead, she merely listened to her friend silently, bottling up her joy as much as she could when it became clear that the disagreement had been a severe one and that while Kelly went down to Florida Shepard would once again be staying for her mother's sake.

"She can't just expect me to desert my family," Shepard had grumbled while she complained to Miranda bitterly about it on the train into Connecticut. "You guys are all I have."

That was when Miranda first realized she was in serious trouble. As kind a thing as it was to say, a friend uttering those words should not have made her feel the way she did in that moment. She did her best to put the thought out of her mind, and was pretty successful at it up until Christmas day.

They sat around the floor in Shepard's old living room, their hamster enjoying the festivities as well since Shepard's mom had been thoughtful enough to buy him a small bag of milk and honey yogurt drops that drove him absolutely mad with excitement. Miranda had begged Shepard for help before they had left the city, not wanting to show up at the house empty handed, and Shepard had assisted her in picking up a small bauble that she was pleased to see her mother genuinely seemed to appreciate. She was more than a little surprised when the woman had a card for her. She had been expected, even though she herself had not known she had been coming until only a few hours earlier. It almost made Miranda feel strange, like she was no longer intruding on this family but had been assimilated into it.

It was after she had given Shepard the childish model spaceship from that stupid Space Commander game that she would never admit to enjoying that Miranda one hundred percent knew this was a situation she had to extract herself from quickly. Shepard handed her a plain envelope with a generic card inside. When she opened it, two symphony tickets slid out into her lap. It was the kind of unbearably perfect Shepard moment that Shepard did when she was being unbearably perfect, and Miranda knew for certain that things couldn't stay the way they were.

She had to pull back because she was having these feeling she shouldn't be feeling and she was wanting to do these things that she shouldn't be wanting to do. Shepard was a friend.

A _girl _friend.

A girlfriend.

No. No.

A girl friend.

Girl space friend.

Female.

And that wasn't Miranda. Was it? No, she didn't think so. Or did she? It didn't matter. Friend. Shepard was her friend and there was Kelly and boys. She liked boys. Males. Man friends. No space needed.

Right?

Right.

* * *

And so January came and they went to listen to the orchestra together and there was laughter and it felt like _way _too much more than friendship and when they returned to the apartment Miranda had to suffer through Shepard and Kelly's reconciliation and everything just boiled over until she could not stand it for a moment longer. It was mid afternoon on a Sunday when she finally burst.

"I'm moving out," She announced, and Shepard looked up at her from the couch with a mixture of surprise and disappointment.

"What did I do?" she questioned instantly, losing all interest in the game she had been playing.

Miranda bit back a smile at that. "You didn't do anything, Jane. It's just," she hesitated. "It's just getting a bit crowded in here."

"You don't like, Kelly?" Shepard asked, sounding surprised. "Do you want me to get rid of her?"

Miranda's jaw dropped in astonishment. "What? I never said…I thought you said you were going to stay with her? She's like finally a stable one, yadda, yadda." Miranda spoke the words that Shepard had once trusted her with quickly, for some reason she found she didn't enjoy saying them all that much.

Shepard paused her game and caught Miranda's eye, "Not if she makes you uncomfortable."

The words were genuine and soft, not a hint of Shepard's usual teasing tone. Miranda did not know how she felt about that. Quickly, she decided to change the focus. "It's not about her, Jane. We are getting older. We have real lives of our own and we can support ourselves now. It's the next step. You knew we weren't going to live together forever."

Shepard glanced away. "I guess not."

"Oh, don't pout," Miranda joked as she plopped down beside Shepard.

"You're just going to go hang out with smart people and forget all about me." Shepard was whining childishly to earn a laugh, but there was some truth to her concerns.

Miranda rolled her eyes. "Oh stop, you know we'll keep in touch."

"That's what you said last time." Shepard's voice was sullen and serious. Miranda merely shook her head as if Shepard were being unreasonable and ridiculous. Shepard shrugged and resumed her game. They looked on in silence together as she cut through hoards of enemy zombies with nothing but a frying pan. Miranda could not help but smile at how ridiculous it seemed at what felt like such an important moment.

"Is this a two player game?"

Shepard's eye lit up at the prospect, just as Miranda had hoped. "For you, Miss Lawson, it can be."

Just over two weeks later Miranda was all moved out, and much to Shepard's delight, they did indeed keep in touch.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I'm glad the people who have reviewed seem to be enjoying this :) It's funny, this started off as just a stupid little side project to keep me entertained when I didn't feel like working on my real stuff, but I have found myself growing increasingly invested. I suppose that is the power of one's favorite pairing.

Ugh, on a side note I've made myself rather lonesome by writing this chapter. I could sure use a snuggle.

* * *

"No." Miranda did not even give Shepard time to say a single word before she denied the woman's entrance into her home. "I told you I was going out today."

"Why on Earth would you be going out when I am so clearly intent on staying in?" Shepard questioned as she gestured to her flannel pajama bottoms with her free hand. Her other hand grasped a shopping bag overflowing with goodies, which she then held up in front of Miranda's face. "I have brought popcorn and chocolate and cringe worthy romantic comedies and I intend to put them all to good use."

"And just what am I supposed to tell Jacob? He's been begging me to see this movie for ages and he wants to go before his shift starts."

Shepard pushed passed her and into the room with a scoff. "Tell him that this is your twelve year frienniversary, and even though that is a totally made up thing I just came up with it still counts because he is a tool."

Miranda put her hands on her hips and tilted her head to the side. "Are you sure you're not just feeling a little lonely?" It had now been about six and a half weeks since the big, and surprisingly dramatic, split with Kelly. Shepard had at first comforted herself by sleeping her way through a good portion of the city's population, but now she spent most of her time clawing at Miranda's door for attention. Miranda always had a very good reason for keeping her out, but somehow Shepard always managed to worm her way in.

"This would be a lot easier," Shepard had told her once when Miranda had said she shouldn't really be hanging out because Jacob had wanted to take her out to dinner, "if you weren't dating a plank of wood." Miranda did not quite know what her friend meant by that, only that she was insulted.

"I'm not lonely," Shepard defended herself. "I was the one who called it off, remember?"

Miranda nodded. "I know, Jane." She had only been reminded of the fact at least a dozen times.

"I just want to eat junk food and snuggle." There was an endearing pout spread across her features. "Is that a crime?"

With a heavy sigh, Miranda gave in, just as she always did when it involved Shepard. Jacob would have to wait. It was their twelve year frienniversary, after all.

* * *

"I have such a love hate relationship with this part," Shepard gripped loudly as the movie played in front of them.

"Hush," Miranda chided. She had not seen this film yet, and it was quite difficult to follow a story line when Shepard insisted on talking over it.

Apparently, Shepard wasn't in the mood for following orders. "I just want to see the dancing sections. I don't care about the weird sexual milk fund jokes," she explained in spite of Miranda's obvious irritation.

"The energetic dancing sections would not be as humorous without the more calm segments interrupting them. That is where the comedy stems from; every time the camera pans back a more outrageous incident is occurring. Humor is most commonly received from the unexpected. Did you ever consider that?"

Shepard turned her head to face her friend in a dramatically slow movement. "Only you could overanalyze the comedic value of a man in drag."

Miranda crossed her arms defensively, though her lips quirked up in a smile. "It's a rare gift."

* * *

"You know," Miranda mused as she watched Shepard snuggle up under her comforter, "although I obviously had no experience as a child, I was always under the impression that the proper protocol concerning sleepovers is to actually ask the host first."

Shepard grinned up at her from under the blanket. "Yes but this was an impromptu sleepover. Protocol has flown out the window."

"Impromptu?" Miranda said in disbelief as she moved to the other side of the bed to slip in beside her friend.

"Yup," Shepard confirmed as she rolled over to face the other woman.

"So you just happened to come in your pajamas and brought your toothbrush by mere coincidence?"

Shepard laughed. "One can never be too careful. I pride myself on being prepared for any situation at a moment's notice."

"Uh huh," Miranda said doubtfully as she _really _wished she had the ability to actually be upset with Shepard for a change. She stiffened as suddenly Shepard was all too close.

"Just think about, Miss Lawson. About twelve years ago today I was creeping you the fuck out."

She scoffed. "Ah, the memories." It was hard to come up with a witty retort when their faces were so _very _close together. Miranda closed her eyes, trying to focus. She had been working so hard to get these feelings under control, whatever they were. It had been much easier the past couple of years, being in her own apartment and all, but Shepard refused to leave her alone for longer than a couple days at a time. She knew the woman was overcompensating because of how quickly they had fallen apart after the last time circumstance had separated them, and that knowledge warmed her heart, but it was difficult to distance yourself from someone who was always in your face.

She swallowed as Shepard's breath tickled her skin, not sure what to make of the emotions that were stirring within her at their proximity. Emotions she thought had been long since buried. The scariest part was how casual Shepard clearly was about the whole affair. She respected Miranda, and although she could be a bit of a flirt, she never pushed any limits or boundaries beyond simple banter. It made Miranda feel disgusted with herself. Shepard would never make her feel uncomfortable or pressure her into anything, and so obviously valued their friendship over the ones she shared with anyone else. It was a heartwarming thing about a woman who was otherwise rather flippant about relationships, and all Miranda could do as they lay there was think about what would happen if she mustered the courage to close the short distance between them.

Shepard hummed contentedly. "I'm glad you were so wrapped up in hating me that you didn't figure out how I was so obviously not supposed to be there."

Miranda sniffed. "I didn't _hate _you."

With a laugh, Shepard shook her head. "Okay, immensely disliked then."

"Exactly," Miranda replied with a warm smile. She sat up suddenly; reaching down to the pile of blankets bunched up at the bottom of the bed and pulled a few up over them.

"Oh no," Shepard groaned. "I wasn't thinking. I should have worn shorts."

Miranda glared at her friend as she settled back down into the mattress. "I'm cold," she defended.

"It was seventy eight degrees out today," Shepard moaned, exasperated.

"Well now it is the evening, and I am cold."

"You're always cold," Shepard grumbled.

Miranda smiled as she rolled on her side so that she could shift more closely towards Shepard without being too conspicuous about it. Purely to keep warm, of course.

* * *

It most certainly was not the first time they had spent the night in the same bed together, but Miranda was a hundred percent positive they had never woken up like this before. She wasn't quite sure why she didn't slide out from under where Shepard's arm lay draped across her waist, or at least pull away so that the sleeping woman's lips were not so tantalizingly close to her neck. Instead, she unbelievably merely closed her eyes once more, pretending she had simply not risen yet.

She _really_ should have moved, but she simply focused on her breathing, giving off the impression of deep sleep. Miranda felt disgusting. She was betraying Jacob's trust, and far worse, Shepard's. It was absolutely despicable.

She also had no intention of moving.

Miranda wasn't sure how much time passed before she finally felt Shepard stir beside her. The loose grip around her middle tightened for just a moment, and then quite suddenly and frantically disappeared as Shepard obviously became aware of her position. She rolled over quickly to face the other way, and Miranda found herself trying quite hard to ignore her body's clear disappointment at the loss of contact.

They lay together for a few minutes like that, and Miranda knew she would have to make the first move. Stretching she rolled off of her back to face Shepard, and her friend turned back towards her in response.

"Hi," she greeted with a small smile.

"Hi." Miranda cringed at how thick her voice sounded. She prayed Shepard did not catch on to how completely she had been affected by the intimacy of the moment.

There was an unusual silence between them as the women sized one another up, each waiting for the other to acknowledge the new development even though they had both feigned sleep. It was all rather ridiculous to be honest. Miranda knew that, and yet there she was, taking part. It was Shepard who regained her composure first.

"How do you manage to get out of bed under all this?" she asked while snuggling deeper under the plethora of covers. "It's too warm to be a productive human being."

Miranda smiled, grateful to slip back into the familiar territory of being teased. "Starting to see my side of things?"

"Don't get me wrong," Shepard laughed. "I still think you're a freak."

Miranda was about to defend herself when they heard the front door open. "Hey, Miranda."

Shepard shot Miranda a hurt look. "_Jacob _gets a key?"

"Jacob has never abused his privileges," Miranda hissed back. "I've never found him rummaging through my fridge at four in the morning."

"I was out of ice cream," Shepard defended for the umpteenth time. "It was an emergency."

"You scared me half to death," Miranda reminded her sternly, though she was having trouble fighting the affectionate smile that threatened to overtake her face.

"Miranda?" Jacob's voice rang throughout the apartment once more.

"We're in here," she called back. Suddenly, she grew self conscious and quickly sat up in the bed, running a hand through her hair as she put a little space between her and her friend. Shepard huffed and reached for Miranda's free hand to pull her back down as she was not ready to get up so early, but the woman gave her a stern look and pulled away.

"We?" He came into the bedroom at her beckoning looking confused. "Oh," he took the pair of them in, together on Miranda's bed. "Hey, Shepard." He had tried calling her Jane in the past; it didn't end in his favor.

"Hullo," she responded cheerfully, peering over the comforter at him with a smile. There could quite easily be tension between the two of them if only Shepard would acknowledge its presence. Jacob was a perfect gentleman and had always been nothing but kind to her, but Shepard was far too observant to fall under the delusion that all was right between them. Jacob clearly was jealous of her close relationship with Miranda, a fact she delighted in.

"How was work?" Miranda questioned politely, knowing he was always a bit worn out coming off of the nightshift.

He shrugged, eyes never leaving where the back of Shepard's hand was gently brushing against Miranda's. "Fine. I thought maybe you would want to grab some breakfast before I head home to pass out for a few hours." It was a joke, but he did not seem too amused as he told it.

"Oh," Miranda gave Shepard an awkward sideways glance, not quite sure what to say.

Shepard grinned up at her. "You can go if I can stay under here," she mumbled sleepily.

Miranda offered a warm smile. "Just stay out of my refrigerator," she warned lightheartedly before looking back at Jacob. "Give me a few minutes."

He nodded before backing out of the room and closing the door behind him. Miranda slid out of bed and moved towards the dresser.

"What a tool." She heard an endearingly cranky voice grumble from under the mountain of blankets. Miranda pretended she didn't notice.

* * *

It was a couple of weeks later when the topic finally came up. If Miranda were to be honest she always knew it was going to be mentioned eventually, she had just chosen to delude herself into thinking it wasn't an issue. Ignorance is bliss, as they say.

Apparently, that was not the case.

"Shepard and I already have plans for tomorrow night. She wants to go see that action movie, you know that one with the aliens?" Miranda could not for the life of her remember the title.

"Of course she does," Jacob sighed into the phone.

Miranda had been folding laundry on the bed but her hands halted their work. "What does that mean?" She could not fight the defensive feeling that rose up within her chest.

"Nothing." He hesitated. Jacob had always been almost frightened of bringing up the issue; even now despite the fact he had been seeing her for months. When you were dating a woman that looked like Miranda Lawson, you tended to do whatever she said without question. "It's just Shepard." He continued quickly when he could sense even through the phone that Miranda was going to protest. "She's great, she's really nice and funny and everything. Under different circumstances I think we could actually be good friends."

Miranda's eyes narrowed. "What's wrong with _these _circumstances?"

Jacob sighed. "You," he said reluctantly. "I hate being this guy," he admitted, "but it's kind of weird. I know she's your best friend but sometimes it feels like I have to set up an appointment just to see my own girlfriend. It's hard enough with the insane work schedule you take on."

Miranda was silent. Two sides of herself were warring with one another. It was hard to want so badly to defend her bond with Shepard when her mind so completely agreed with what Jacob was telling her.

* * *

"Yeah, maybe another time," Miranda offered, feeling guilty. "How about on Tuesday night?"

"No, I'll be dead by then," Shepard moaned.

A wide smile broke across Miranda's face as she listened to the fuss being kicked up over the phone. "You won't be dead," she replied with a laugh.

"I need you," the woman was whining childishly.

It took a few moments for Miranda to be able to respond. Shepard _really _knew how to make things a thousand times more difficult without even trying. "No you don't," she said after a heavy breath. "You'll be fine."

"I'll be lonely and die." Miranda could practically hear the pout on Shepard's face. "What if I call Kelly?" she asked in terror.

"You won't call Kelly." Miranda rolled her eyes.

"I might," Shepard warned.

"Well exercise some self control. It's this thing that normal humans possess."

"Oh god I'm so alone," Shepard lamented. "I'm going to call Kelly."

"No, Jane. You specifically told me not to let you do that."

"Yeah, well you're deserting me. I'm alone in the world."

"Don't be so dramatic," Miranda sighed out into the receiver.

"Oh no," Shepard sounded horrified. "I'm going to die and call Kelly and have to live out the rest of my days being hot and sweaty in Florida with nobody to mourn me except pelicans."

Miranda broke into laughter. "You're going to die and then live?"

"Yes. With pelican mourners," Shepard repeated. "Keep up, Miranda."

Again, she chuckled. "Goodnight, Jane."

"More like goodbye forever because I'm dead."

Miranda was shaking her head as she hung up.

* * *

"Oh god it was terrible," Shepard was laughing at the memory as she spoke. The whole ordeal had ended up amusing her greatly. "What a horror she was."

"Oh stop. Hope is incredibly intelligent and very polite," Miranda scolded her friend gently from across the small table they sat at. It was Shepard's day off so as usual she had met up with Miranda on the woman's lunch break.

"You said you two had a lot in common," Shepard accused.

"We do," Miranda responded quickly.

"Not the good parts."

Miranda gave her a scathing look, though there was only amusement behind it. "Are you insinuating I have 'bad parts'?"

Shepard merely rolled her eyes. "I am insinuating that she was like you when you're being … not … you."

"Not me?" Miranda was actually genuinely curious now.

"Yeah," Shepard thought about the best way to put it for a moment. It came to her after a few seconds of careful deliberation. "You in front of strangers."

Miranda smiled as a long forgotten memory came rushing back to her. "Prickly?" she teased.

"Prickly?" Shepard looked confused.

"That's what you called me the first day we met," Miranda explained.

"I did?" Shepard looked positively baffled. "I never said that. I would _never _call you that."

"You definitely did," Miranda assured her.

"I definitely didn't," Shepard maintained.

* * *

"He was a good friend," Shepard said sadly. "I will never forget the way his cheeks puffed out as he gorged himself on everything in sight, or the time he relieved himself on the top of your head."

Miranda rolled her eyes. "Only because you put him up there."

"Please refrain from talking until the service is complete," Shepard chastised her. "Goodbye old friend, you are gone from our lives, but not forgotten in our hearts."

Solemnly, slowly, Shepard began to knock the dirt back into the hole she had dug on top of the tissue box coffin they had made earlier. Miranda rocked back and forth on her feet. "Hurry it up Shepard, I have to pee."

"No respect for the dead," her friend lamented sadly. "Goodbye, Mr. Patrick Chubbinstein the first, we'll miss you."

* * *

Oriana pulled Shepard into an enthusiastic hug. "It's so good to see you again," she said sincerely.

Shepard took a step back to look her over. "Look at you; you're almost like an entire person now."

With a laugh, Oriana playfully punched her shoulder. Her birthday had come around once more and so once again she had flown into the States. They had turned it into an annual thing, her visits. She obviously stayed with Miranda for the past couple of years but made sure to spend as much time with her friend Shepard as possible before departing for home once more.

Miranda wrapped an arm around her sister, happy to have her back, trying not to let her joy be diminished by _him. _The man stood behind Shepard grinning like a complete moron. He was the woman's latest conquest and clearly could not be more delighted about that fact.

"Don't waste money on a cab," he had told them. "I can just drive you all up to the airport free of charge."

Oh great, Miranda had thought, what a bloody hero.

* * *

Out of nowhere, Oriana popped off the couch. "I'm going to get a drink, does anybody else want anything?" When they all shook their heads she leaned down to grasp Miranda's hand and pull her up to her feet. "Come on, you need a drink."

"I said no thank you," Miranda mumbled, bewildered as Oriana dragged her into the other room.

While Oriana took a couple of glasses down out of the cabinet Miranda observed the man from the archway of the kitchen. What was up with Kaidan? What kind of name was Kaidan? Nobody's name is Kaidan. And what was he trying to pull? Nobody is that nice.

"Hey." Miranda glanced the other way to see her sister beckoning her deeper into the kitchen. "Listen, I get that it's weird but you need to stop."

Miranda tilted her head, perplexed. "Stop what?"

Oriana's mouth fell open in astonishment. "You've been giving that poor kid the death glare all night. You're making the guy uncomfortable. Jacob has clearly noticed too."

Miranda blanched. She hadn't been staring, had she?

"You can't have it both ways," Oriana said in a surprisingly stern tone.

"What?" Miranda's mouth felt quite dry.

"You can't expect her to wait around forever. If you don't want to be with her then you have to accept that somebody else will."

Eyes wide, Miranda took a step away from her sister. "I don't … I'm not … I haven't … I'm _not_ … I …"

"Yeah, okay. Whatever you say, Miri," Oriana said as she pushed by her back into the living room.

* * *

It was only a few weeks later when it happened. Miranda had been feeling under the weather for quite awhile, and she had only seen the doctor for a quick checkup. She hadn't been prepared for the discovery. It was so very out of left field. It made no sense, it felt so random.

She held on to the information for over a day, not quite sure what emotions it stirred within her. Sometimes she was angry, sometimes she was sad. Sometimes, it just made her laugh. At first, she had no idea what possessed her to do it, but later it would come to her.

The doctor had handed her a pamphlet, a gesture to assure her she wasn't the only one. Not entirely impossible he had said, but it would cause major complications when the time came. "If you were looking to start a family," he had mentioned before she left, "I would strongly suggest you open yourself up to the idea of adoption as an alternative."

It was like some incredibly cruel form of manipulation. There was work and friends and sisters, there had never been any thoughts of children before. It was such a far off idea at that point; it was not even on her radar. But now it was, and it wasn't even her choice.

Hey, you know that thing you didn't even get a chance to wonder about or decide if you wanted it or not? Well don't worry about it because no, you can't. You can't do it. You can't have it. It's not yours.

She had left the pamphlet out because she was an idiot. An exhausted, miserable, idiot. Of course Jacob had tried to comfort her after he had discovered its existence, he was only being kind. She didn't want it though. Didn't want his comfort, didn't want _him_.

She wanted to be alone, wanted to curl up under all of her blankets and be free to feel whatever it was she was feeling. There was only one thing she needed.

"Howdy." The voice sounding through her phone was so chipper and reassuring, so undoubtedly Shepard.

Miranda could not help but smile through the tears she had not even known she had been crying. "Jane."

"Woah," instantly, Shepard was serious. "Wait a minute. What's wrong?"

"I can't-" her voice broke.

"Hey, hey, hey," Shepard soothed. "It will be okay. You can tell me."

"I broke up with Jacob," Miranda said lamely, not quite ready to reveal the real truth. She had yet to say the words out loud.

"Oh, so tears of joy then."

A weight lifted off Shepard's chest when the comment earned a watery laugh. "Don't be such an ass. That's not it."

"Tell me what it is then." There was silence, and then Shepard listened as a new wave of sorrow washed over Miranda. "Woah, it's okay. Nevermind. It's fine. You don't have to say a word about it. What do you need from me? Do you want me to come over?"

There was a long pause then, too long. Shepard could not help the wide smile that spread across her face when she realized the reason. "Are you nodding, Miranda?"

There was a hiccup. "Yes."

"I'll be right there."

* * *

Miranda had left the door unlocked for her, and Shepard knew right away she should head for the bedroom. She smiled fondly as she found Miranda's blanket cave higher than she had ever experienced it before. The woman was nowhere to be seen as she moved over to the bed and knelt by where she guessed her friend's head would be.

"Hi," she called out softly. "I brought a bit of material comfort."

There was no reply. Instead, a hand slowly slid out from under the covers, palm up. Shepard placed a chocolate bar in the disembodied appendage and grinned when Miranda's fingers curled around it before dragging it into her sanctuary. She laughed as she heard the wrapper being pulled open, and was a bit surprised when the hand returned, this time with an offering for _her_ instead.

Shepard took the pamphlet without a word, and read it over twice before climbing in bed beside her friend. It took a few moments, but eventually she was able to dig through the quilts and comforters to find Miranda. She took in the woman for a moment, how very different she looked. So much smaller, so very frail. The image was so disturbingly not Miranda it made her heart positively ache.

"Was this something you wanted for yourself?" she asked softly.

"I don't know," Miranda sighed, wiping her cheek ineffectually with the back of her sleeve. "I never thought about it before, it was the furthest thing from my mind. But, it was always a thing I could do if I wanted. It was always there. And now," she sniffed to hold back a fresh wave of tears she could feel coming on. It proved to be a futile effort. "It's gone. It's no longer a thing." She shook her head and then burrowed it into her pillow, exhausted by the emotions slowly welling up inside herself. "I'm so confused."

Shepard settled down under the blankets next to her, reaching out tentatively to brush some of Miranda's uncharacteristically unruly dark hair behind her ear. "In the universe's defense, you're so amazing in every other respect it had to take you down a peg somewhere."

Miranda glared at her friend through her tears. "Not the time, Jane."

Shepard laughed, which she knew would earn a small smile from her companion, albeit a reluctant one. "This isn't something that defines you. Just another bump in the road for Miranda Lawson."

Miranda sniffed and inched forward along the mattress to press her forehead gently against Shepard's. "I should _really _think about repaving."

Chuckling heartily, Shepard leaned up on her arm and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "You only get the crap you're strong enough to handle."

It was difficult to ignore the heat Shepard's lips left in their wake, but Miranda was going to try her damndest. "I sure get an _awful _lot of crap," She wallowed quietly in self pity.

Miranda was rather surprised when Shepard did not laugh as she expected, but instead gently framed the side of her face with a reassuring hand. "Then I suppose that's quite a testament to your strength."

It was the sincerity of the words that pulled Miranda across the bed, for once Shepard wasn't making everything into one giant joke and she was going to take advantage of the novelty of that moment. Shepard's eyes were wide with astonishment when Miranda's lips met hers for one brief heart stopping second. She pulled away quickly, breathing heavy in her shock.

"Miranda," her hoarse voice exposing her desire. "We can't-"

Shepard's protests were silenced with another kiss, this one far more forceful and dominating. Miranda didn't want to hear it. She had had quite enough of being told what she could and could not do for one night, thank you very much.

* * *

It was by no means a smooth seduction. Shepard was so obviously warring with herself, her mind fighting against her body's impulses every step of the way. Miranda was persistent enough to get what she wanted however, and soon desire took over everything else.

After that, it was Miranda who needed the urging as self consciousness overtook her. She had never lacked for confidence in the past, but this was a completely foreign concept. Some small part of her mind mocked herself for her foolish insecurities. She knew Shepard better than anyone, knew what was pleasing to herself, it should have been an effortless affair. It didn't matter though, she found herself feeling anxious nonetheless.

In the end, she had wasted her time with worry, as once Shepard's initial hesitation was destroyed, she completely took control. Miranda had never before felt the way she did that night. She had never been one for submission; she always knew what she wanted out of a situation and manipulated it until she got what she desired. This time was different. This time she was lost, aimless, and only Shepard could guide her along the correct path.

It was so incredibly freeing. Shepard expected not one movement from her; she demanded nothing with neither body nor voice. Instead, she actually seemed more inclined to put in the work herself, frequently staying Miranda's hands with her own and focusing entirely on her fulfillment. She worshipped Miranda's body, traveling every inch with steady fingers and an expert tongue as if it had been her life's purpose from the very beginning. Over and over she drove Miranda to completion, relentless in her pace, never seeming to tire of her exploration.

Never had Miranda trusted someone to so thoroughly influence her body, to push her so far into the grasp of ecstasy that she was left breathless and trembling, completely vulnerable. Rapture consumed her, and she gave nothing back. Shepard had dedicated the night to Miranda. Not out of pity or obligation, but because everything was about the woman writhing beneath her. It always had been. It always would be.

Every quiver, every gasp, every shudder, every moan, _that _was her gratification. Those were the things that propelled her along, the gifts she would never stop hunting. Hours she spent, unwrapping every inch of the woman, never letting her stop to think in fear of the spell being broken. She poured every inch of herself into every movement, and _oh god_ could Miranda feel it.

She was complete with Shepard there. Over her, on her, inside her, it didn't matter. Shepard made her whole. Everything vanished. Work, Jacob, her father, that stupid incompetent doctor. None of it mattered because she was there, and Shepard was there, and as she was forced endlessly over the edge throughout the night it was clear that as long as she had this woman none of it would ever matter again.

That was why she had felt such unbearable agony when she woke up alone the next morning with nothing but half of an incredibly pulverized chocolate bar for company.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: So this turned into a romcom. *embarrassed laugh*

I want to thank the people who have commented on the relationship feeling real. That is such a huge compliment to me, I can't even describe it.

Fun Fact: The last section of this chapter is the first thing I wrote when creating this story. I hope everyone feels satisfied when it is over.

* * *

The problem with your best friend _being _the problem is that they were the one person who would have made the problem okay. When your most trusted confidant had deserted you while you were in a wild state of swirling anger, embarrassment, and shame, it really left you few options to find peace.

Shepard was gone, and Miranda was left with only the thoughts of mortification and infertility. She still wasn't okay, she still needed her friend to work through this with her, and she had soiled that for herself in her own selfishness. Immediate gratification and comfort, that was all she had cared about at the time, and now all she had was an ache in her chest.

Well, an ache and the prospect of having to rewash her sheets because of all the fucking chocolate stains.

For a long time Miranda could not gather the strength to get out of bed. She was in shock, if she were honest. It felt like a dream, something happening to a whole other person. Miranda hadn't really wanted to make the call she did that morning, but she needed someone, _anyone. _She had always been the together one, the one who guided her little sister through life with a gentle yet shielding hand. Never had she let herself appear weak or fragile, but that day was different. Miranda needed to break the image of infallible older sister because everything was turning out to be too much and she needed to know that she had one person, just one other soul that she could connect with.

"Hello?" Oriana sounded confused as soon as she picked up, a bit of concern creeping into her voice. If Miranda was anything, she was dependable. There was a set day she called weekly, a set time. Anything else could only mean trouble.

"Oh god, Ori." Miranda was surprised at how quickly the words escaped her lips. She curled up tightly on her bed, hiding under the blankets from accusing eyes that were not there. "I did something stupid," she moaned. "I did something really, really, stupid."

"Is everything okay?" Oriana had never heard her sister like that before. She was not really the self-deprecating type.

"No. Not at all." Miranda pressed her palm to her forehead, face scrunched up in frustration at her own idiocy. "Oh God I hate myself." In that moment she truly meant it.

"Hey, Miranda," came Oriana's voice nervously. "You are kinda freaking me out."

"I slept with Jane." It sounded so ridiculous when she finally said the words out loud. For such a small sentence it certainly carried a lot of weight. Four words had never been so damning.

There was silence on the line for just a few moments before a soft giggle could be heard."Oh sweet Jesus, finally."

"No," Miranda groaned into the receiver, burrowing in the pillow. "No, don't you dare."

"I don't get it," Oriana's voice was laced with mirth. "What's the problem?" There was another snicker. "Was it, you know," she paused for dramatic effect, "bad? Didn't live up to the fantasy?"

Miranda's face flushed at the question. "Please stop," she begged.

"Okay," Oriana relented with a laugh. "I'm sorry, I was just teasing. Really, though, how is this a bad thing?"

"I don't know," Miranda whined honestly. "Apparently it was though because she's gone."

"Gone?" Oriana seemed baffled by the thought.

"I think it freaked her out."

Oriana seemed to contemplate that for a moment. "Well, you have been friends for like ever," she sighed out after a few moments. "She'll come back, I'm sure she just had somewhere to be." Oriana sounded like she was trying to convince the both of them.

"Maybe," Miranda replied. She knew though, deep down she knew what had happened.

"Take a shower," Oriana said. "Clean up, calm down, and then call Shepard. You'll see, everything will be fine."

Easy for you to say, Miranda could not help but think. Her whole world wasn't crumbling apart at the seams. It wasn't her sister's fault, of course. Miranda had left out the part about her doctor appointment and the discovery that had followed. It was easier to pretend like she only had one problem at a time, and she didn't know if she could handle sitting on the phone, listening to a voice filled with pity.

Shepard hadn't pitied her. She had offered her comfort, both verbal and physical, but never pity. They had too much respect for one another for that. There was too much understanding between them. At least, that was what Miranda had believed at the time.

Now though, Shepard had clearly run off as soon as she had been able. Maybe she _had _merely been showing simple compassion. Miranda's face burned with the thought of how hard she had worked to get Shepard to respond properly, to stop holding back. Shepard had only given in at her persistence. She had needed to be pushy to get what she wanted. Shepard had initiated nothing.

As she hung up with her sister and made her way into the bathroom Miranda had to try exceptionally hard to keep the phrase 'pity fuck' out of her mind.

The shower was the opposite of healing. There were reminders of the previous night _everywhere._ Her body was a virtual canvas, depicting every dirty moment of the intimacy she and Shepard had shared. It was maddening to stare at the blemishes and imperfections for so long, and eventually Miranda found herself sliding to the floor as the scalding water beat down upon her, curling up in disgust.

* * *

"You know," Shepard laughed awkwardly in the phone. "I had to go into work."

"Today is your day off," Miranda deadpanned.

There was a halfhearted chuckle. "No wonder everyone looked so confused," she joked lamely.

A flash of anger swept over Miranda like a tidal wave. She wondered bitterly how many other people had made this call to Shepard in the past. How many had called, hurt and confused, only to be dismissed with shoddy attempts at humor. She was one of them now, the latest notch in an _incredibly _nicked bedpost. "Just stop, Jane," Miranda said quickly before Shepard could go any further. "It's fine," she lied. "Forget about it."

It was the most not fine thing in the entire world.

"I'm sorry," Shepard breathed out suddenly, her voice taking on a whole different tone. She had not lasted that long as Miranda's friend without being able to read her when she was clearly lying. "I'm really sorry. I knew the whole time that you were just…" Shepard trailed off, swallowing hard. "Look, I should have been the one to stop it. I made a stupid mistake and I know I can't take it back, I betrayed your trust when you needed me."

"Stop." All Shepard was doing now was reminding Miranda that she was the one who had initiated everything. She was the one who had put herself out on the line. She was the one who had crossed the carefully laid boundaries that had existed for so long between them. She was the one who was now being discarded. "I just want you to drop it."

"Hey," Shepard sounded panicked. "I can't-" She cut herself off; clearly unsure of what she was trying to get across. "We just-" she hesitated again. "I don't want things to be like, weird now, or anything," she finally managed in a rather underwhelming manner.

"I know." That was the truth. Miranda knew how much her friendship meant to Shepard. The woman had so few people in her life that held her complete trust, and Miranda had sacrificed that bond because of her own selfishness. She knew how much Shepard valued her, how treasured she was, and that was why she had pushed so hard last night, Miranda realized with revulsion. Shepard loved her, considered her family. Miranda had done it because she knew that, she knew Shepard would never deny her anything, would never say no.

"Are they weird?" Shepard finally asked, clearly apprehensive.

Miranda swallowed. "I have to go, Jane," she lied.

"Oh," Shepard responded, surprised. "Okay. Do you want to call me later when you get a chance?"

"Sure."

She never called.

* * *

"Hello?" Shepard said quickly. The hour was insane, but she had shot up out of bed to answer her phone without hesitation. It had been weeks since she had heard from Miranda, and the two times she had tried to call so far she was met with nothing but a voicemail recording. More than once she had made it all the way to Miranda's apartment building before losing her nerve and returning home.

"What the hell is going on?" The voice was sharp and accusing, and so frustratingly _almost _the one she wanted to hear.

"Ori?"

"What did you do?" The younger girl sounded completely exasperated.

"Hey, it's always nice to hear from you kid but remember the time zone thing?" She yawned. "Do you have any idea how early it is for me?"

"Good." The voice was venomous, quite reminiscent of an enraged Miranda.

Shepard's lips quirked up into a smile. "Excuse me?"

"Why are you being an idiot?" She almost sounded disappointed.

"I'm going to bed," Shepard responded defensively. She didn't need to be shamed by a third party.

"Don't you hang up on me, Jane Shepard."

She couldn't help but laugh at the idle threat. "Goodnight. I'll call you back tomorrow."

"Don't you _dare-" _

But Shepard was already hanging up, and snuggling back into bed for a long rest.

* * *

**_I can't make it to the phone right now, but leave your name and number and I will get back to you as soon as I am able. _**

**_*beep*_**

"Hi, it's me. Shepard. You know, me. Not some person named Me. _That _would be pretty weird. Uh, I guess just call me back when you get this then.

* * *

**_I can't make it to the phone right now, but leave your name and number and I will get back to you as soon as I am able. _**

**_*beep*_**

"Me again. I guess you must be pretty busy with work and stuff, and I don't want to be a bother, but I would at least appreciate knowing if you were still alive."

* * *

**_I can't make it to the phone right now, but leave your name and number and I will get back to you as soon as I am able. _**

**_*beep*_**

"Well, that's clearly a lie. I think you probably could have found time in over a month, so I'm left with thinking about a couple of options here. Either you are a liar and _do not _get back to people 'as soon as you are able', or, you have passed away due to a tragic incident, most likely involving spontaneous combustion because I always thought that would be a cool way to go, and find yourself unable to return my call. If it is the first thing, make some time, lady."

* * *

**_I can't make it to the phone right now, but leave your name and number and I will get back to you as soon as I am able. _**

**_*beep*_**

"Okay, so I was kidding about the spontaneous combustion thing before but now I've seriously freaked myself out. Please let me know if you are still breathing."

* * *

**_I can't make it to the phone right now, but leave your name and number and I will get back to you as soon as I am able. _**

**_*beep*_**

"You are a jerk. A giant stupid jerk face. Why don't you just go fly off on your fucking koala and play your didgeridoo by yourself and leave me alone. I don't need this. Fuck you, and fuck math. I _never _liked math. Math is like the worst thing and that's _all _you care about. Math, math, math. Just go have sex with math if you like it so much. I bet you'd love that, wouldn't you?"

* * *

**_I can't make it to the phone right now, but leave your name and number and I will get back to you as soon as I am able. _**

**_*beep*_**

"So I don't know what I said, but when I saw that I had made a call I knew it was something I should probably apologize for. I'm sorry, whatever it was it was stupid and I'm sorry. My only defense is that me and some of the guys went out for a couple of drinks. I can assure you I was quite heavily intoxicated. Really, whatever I said, I'm really sorry."

* * *

**_I can't make it to the phone right now, but leave your name and number and I will get back to you as soon as I am able. _**

**_*beep*_**

"Miranda, please. It's okay if you just want to yell. It's fine if you hate me. Just please pick up the phone. Just pick it up this once, one last time and I'll leave you alone forever. Just let me know you're okay. Let me hear your voice. I promise I'll stop. I really will. Please. I need you. One more time, come back to me. Tell me what an idiot I am, for old time's sake."

"Jane."

"Miranda." Shepard could not control the relief in her voice. "Hi," she gasped out, breathless. "Hi. Hello. Hi."

"What do you want, Jane?" Miranda sounded so tired, so drained. Shepard's chest tightened at the thought of being responsible for it.

"Nothing," she assured her friend quickly. "I don't want anything from you. I'm just, I'm just sorry." She poured every ounce of herself into saying the words just one more time. "I'm just so incredibly sorry."

Miranda was silent for a few moments. "Fine," she finally whispered. "I told you before, it was fine."

"Obviously it wasn't," Shepard said, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

There was a heavy sigh, but no laughter. "I should go."

"Wait," Shepard's voice was frantic. "Please, Miranda. I just want to talk to you again. Everything has felt so wrong without you. Anytime anything happens, I just want to tell my best friend. I need you."

Miranda swallowed back her emotions. "You know I'll always be there for you, Jane," she assured the woman truthfully. "I just need some time."

"The kind of time that involves me and ice cream?" Shepard pressed hopefully.

Miranda hesitated. It was such a tempting, familiar thing. The kind of regular night that they used to share so often. She knew she wanted nothing more than to take up that offer, and she also knew she would not be able to handle it if she did.

"I'm busy, Jane. Maybe another night."

* * *

Slowly, Miranda began accepting Shepard's calls more and more frequently, always with the same level of hesitation however. She had once been told that time heals all wounds, but was hardly finding the evidence to prove that theory. Their conversations were brief and generic. Mockery had flown out the window to make way for small talk and other pleasantries. Rarely did they meet in person, and they most certainly never did get around to that ice cream.

For the first time in years, Shepard spent both Thanksgiving and Christmas alone with her mother, as Miranda had claimed illness on both dates. Shepard had found herself outside the woman's door in January, holding an envelope from her own mother to an old friend. Miranda accepted the gift with much reluctance, feeling the heavy hand of guilt weigh down upon her as she had purchased nothing to offer in return.

"What are you up to?" Shepard had asked after making her delivery.

Miranda panicked, still feeling much too raw to spend an extended period of time in Shepard's presence. It dawned on her in that moment that should even years pass there would always be this thing in the air between them, an unmentionable happenstance to never be addressed. It might never go back to the way it had been, and she had nobody to blame but herself.

"I was just on my way out," she said as calmly as she could. Shepard nodded in understanding, either too hurt or too polite to mention the fact it was after ten on a work night and Miranda had made the claim while standing in her pajamas.

* * *

Neither Shepard nor Miranda would ever admit it, but it had been Oriana who had been the linchpin of the whole operation. She had walked off the plane, ready for her yearly birthday week celebrations, and moved straight over to where Miranda sat waiting. "No Shepard?" Those were the first words out of her lips, and if you asked her sister they were far too accusing.

* * *

Shepard opened the door a few moments after the knocking had started, only to be nearly bowled over as Oriana pushed her way inside the apartment.

"You don't care about my birthday anymore?" She let herself through into the living room, seating herself down on the old couch, all the while watching Shepard with an icy glare.

"It's good to see you too," Shepard said out into the empty hallway. "Please, come in and make yourself at home," she added sarcastically before closing the door and following her guest.

Oriana watched her every movement with a reproachful gaze as Shepard took a seat on the other end of the couch. "After all these years, you're not coming to my dinner?"

Shepard grimaced; she had been waiting for something like this to crop up again. Her mother had been so disappointed when Miranda had skipped out on the holidays, and now Oriana was being let down as well. "Miranda doesn't want me there," she said apologetically.

"It's not Miranda's birthday," Oriana countered.

Shepard laughed. "It's Miranda's apartment."

"She wants you there," Oriana assured her. "Just like I do."

"Oh, shut up." Shepard waved her comment off dismissively. "She hates me."

"She doesn't hate you at all. _That's the problem._" Oriana was beyond done with the pair of them. They were acting like children.

"I know." Shepard was shaking her head. "I'm not as stupid as I pretend to be, Ori. I know how she felt about me."

"Feels," Oriana amended, eyes narrowed.

Scoffing, Shepard crossed her arms. "I wouldn't be so sure about that anymore."

Oriana groaned, head in her hands. She felt like she was caught in the middle of a parental separation. "I just don't get it, Shepard. _You're _the problem. After all these years, I never thought that that would be what happened. If anything it would be Miranda being a stubborn little princess. But it's not. It's you. _You're _the thing that is holding you guys back."

"It's not that simple," Shepard defended. She really was not too keen to discuss the topic further with Oriana of all people. It felt weird, like she was going behind Miranda's back.

"Why not?" Oriana honestly could not fathom Shepard's reasoning. If there had been anything she had been one hundred percent sure of throughout the years she had known the woman, it was that she had always adored Miranda, wholeheartedly. "It always felt so," she hesitated, "inevitable."

"No," Shepard's tone was harsh. The younger girl had never heard her speak in such a manner before. "It wasn't."

"Why not?" Oriana asked again, more ferocity in her voice this time around. She had lived with Miranda long enough to learn not to be intimidated easily.

"It just wouldn't work, so drop it." The words were a warning now.

"No. Not unless I get a decent response." Oriana felt bad for prying on some level, but it all just felt so stupid to her. She knew that was easy to say as an outsider looking in, but she couldn't help it. Not to mention she couldn't stand to sit through Miranda's ridiculous pining for another day, let alone an entire week. It had actually been a relief when her sister had gone into work for the day, the woman could depress a dog in the state she was in.

"Stop," Shepard dragged a heavy hand through her wild red hair. "I just can't do it. I can't," she hesitated; she never had had much skill in relating emotion without hiding behind sarcasm or humor, or in most cases both. "I can't lose her. She's my best friend." Shepard looked up, lost. "I need to hold onto her."

"Well you're doing a pretty good job of losing her right now." Oriana had no sympathy. "If she is your best friend then why don't you want to be with her?"

"I do." Shepard was exasperated, with Miranda, with Oriana, with the situation, with herself. "I want to see her every day. She's the one ignoring _me._"

The younger girl rolled her eyes. "Well come on, Shepard. You only strung her along for almost thirteen years now."

"Don't you get it?" Shepard stood up. "This is what I do. I can never just be with someone. It always starts off great and then, I dunno, something just happens. There's no reason for it. They always end up being too talkative or too pushy. They chew with their mouths open or have horrendous taste in films. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I just can't make it last. I always screw it up, and run away, and I can't do that with her." Shepard shook her head. "I _have _to keep Miranda. I have to. She can't be like the rest. They never work out, they never stick. They're never-"

Oriana laughed. "Her?" she interrupted smoothly.

"What?" Shepard turned towards her, perplexed.

"Shepard, you didn't leave those people because of silly little pet peeves. You left them because they weren't her. They were never Miranda enough."

It was true, of course, it always had been. Everyone, even subconsciously, was pit against the woman. They weren't smart enough, weren't as together. They never had the right presence or the right attitude. Kelly's tongue hadn't been as sharp and quick. Kaidan had been far too difficult to get riled up.

Everyone was measured against her, and they always fell short. Miranda was the rule, the ideal; far from perfect, but only in the thousands of ways that didn't matter. Her hot temper could be cooled, her intensely guarded instincts shattered, her insecurities coddled away. Everything about her clicked, it was manageable, leaving nothing but flawlessness.

"What if you're wrong?" she whispered, terrified.

"What if I'm right?"

* * *

Oriana had had complete faith in Shepard, she knew her old friend would never let her down. When she said she would be there to celebrate with you, she would be there. And so, she was a hundred percent prepared for the death glare she received from her sister when Shepard just so happened to walk into the same restaurant they had been dining at the night of her twenty-fourth birthday.

"What did you do?" Miranda hissed, fire in her gaze.

Oriana shrugged as Shepard quickly found them and took a seat after giving Oriana a brief hug. "Happy birthday, kid." She handed her a small envelope, and offered Miranda an apologetic smile. It wasn't returned.

They spent the meal in relative silence, an awkward hush falling over the table. Oriana attempted to strike up a few discussions, but they all died out after a few moments. She kept shooting Shepard meaningful looks across the table, but the woman frustratingly refused to push Miranda into any sort of confrontation.

When dinner was through, they traveled on foot the relatively short distance to Miranda's apartment building. The sidewalks were quiet at that late hour, which only further stressed the already strained conversation. When they reached the building, Oriana was more than ready to escape the palpable tension of the situation.

"So I'll just be upstairs then," She said quickly, dashing through the doors before she could be stopped by her sister who was quickly growing more and more frustrated with her as the night wore on. Miranda was left staring at the empty space where Oriana had been, praying Shepard would leave without a word. Of course, she could never be that lucky.

"Miranda," Shepard started cautiously. Miranda merely turned away. "You know what? I'm just going to take off. I think that's for the best." She turned on the walkway, headed home.

"I'm sorry," Miranda suddenly called after her. The words burst forth, completely unbidden. It was what she had always meant to say, but had never had the courage to. She had owned up to her mistake only in her mind, never to Shepard herself. Shepard turned back to face her as she continued. "I started everything that night. I _ruined _everything, and now I'm the one who can't get over it." She locked eyes with her friend. "It kills me every time you think you're the one who has to apologize for what happened."

Shepard took a few steps closer. "I think we can both take a little credit," she offered gently.

Miranda rolled her eyes. "I felt so terrible, falling asleep that night, knowing what I pushed you to do. But then I woke up, and you were gone, and I," her eyes fell to the pavement, the dirty, disgusting, gum riddled pavement, as she searched for the words. "I was so," her irritation slowly returned as she relived the event. "I was so angry." It felt so good to finally say, even as it made hot tears begin to blur her vision. "I was so mad. I needed you, more than anything. That was the worst day of my life and I needed you and you just left me there." Again, she caught Shepard's gaze. "Everything was falling apart, crumbling around me, and for two seconds I thought that it might be okay. Two seconds. But then you were gone and when I woke up in the morning," her voice faltered. "God, Jane. Do you know how humiliating that was? Do you know how stupid I felt?"

Again, Shepard moved forward, but Miranda took a step back, clearly retreating towards the door. "I'm sorry," she said once more, feeling foolish at the pent up emotions that had so suddenly emerged. "I think," she paused to swallow. "I think I just need to go upstairs." She turned and made for the door of the building.

"Wait." Shepard followed her inside, she knew all too well what would happen if she went home now. Miranda would dodge her calls and deny her meetings and slowly they would fall apart once more, this time more permanently. Miranda paused in her ascent, but did not turn around. "Don't do this."

Miranda shifted to look back at her, eyes brimming with a mixture of regret and sorrow. "It's already been done, I think."

"Don't go." Shepard's voice was more authoritative now, and she moved up a couple of steps closer. "Stay with me."

"Jane, please." Miranda needed to escape before things got any worse. Oriana was upstairs, and that's where she needed to go. She needed to put on a smile and eat the cake that was most likely too dry and watch the comedy that could never make her laugh when she was in so very much pain and move on with her life. "Just go home."

"No," she took another step up. "You're too smart for me, Miranda. There's a million ways in which you're so much more than I could ever be, and yet somehow I've been given this chance so I'm not just going to walk away." Shepard shook her head. "I feel so dumb. All of those times I woke up in some random bed and I couldn't wait to get out of there. I couldn't wait to be with my friend and make fun of what a loser the guy turned out to be or how much I hated that girl's taste in music." She laughed. "I just wanted to joke around and eat gross food and completely be myself without trying to impress anyone."

She reached out to lightly grip Miranda's hand. "I can't believe how much time I wasted. I could have been here, with you, all along. I could have been suffocating with you under a mountain of blankets in the dead of June and listening to insane technobabble that I have _no _idea about. I could have been laughing at old sitcoms and crying over period dramas and loving every second of my life."

Miranda shook her head, pulling her hand away. "Don't." The word was like ice.

"I do, though." Shepard couldn't back down. "I love being with you. I was a little shit growing up, and I'm probably an even bigger one now, but I wasn't a liar. I never lied, ever. Only once. Walking into that library, letting you think I was somebody else, that was the best decision I ever made because it opened this door. Because of that one lie I can stand in front of you today and say with more certainty than I've ever felt about anything else in my life that I love you, Miranda Lawson. I fell in love with you somewhere between calling you a cactus and picking up your sister from dance, and no matter how many years go by that is never ever going to change."

Miranda almost took a step down, but shifted mid step and rested back on her heels. She could not force the memories of their night together out of her mind. How whole she had felt, how complete, how much she had hurt when she was alone in the morning. That was the scary thing, the thing that held her back. Shepard had so much power over her, so much control. If she wanted, she could leave Miranda broken, absolutely destroyed. "You can't just-"

"I just did." Shepard's voice had lost its strength in her fear. Whatever happened next was Miranda's decision. The next few moments would change her life forever, and it was completely out of her control. It was either going to be a beginning or an end, and she was surrendering that choice up to the person she trusted most in the world. Miranda contemplated her friend for a moment, before a shy smile broke out along her lips.

"You're such an ass," she finally whispered.

"The biggest," Shepard agreed whole heartedly. She took a couple of tentative steps towards Miranda to close the gap remaining between them, a giddy grin forming when she saw the woman had no intention of pulling away."Now if you don't have any objections, Miss Lawson, I think I might kiss you."

Apparently, after just about thirteen years, she did not have any objections at all.

* * *

A/N: Haha, too cheesy? I'm sorry, I hate emotional talks. My response to 'I love you' is usually something along the lines of "GROSS!" (true story), so I fear I may not be too well versed in dramatic proclamations. I hope it was at least enjoyable for you all.

I really appreciate the support this little project has gotten, so thank you to everyone who reviewed from the bottom of my heart. And also thanks to the kind folks who PM me, as seeing a new message always makes my day :)

As requested: The movie watched in Chapter 2 is The Lord of the Rings (though I'm sure most everyone caught that). The musical they watch in Chapter 3 is Fiddler on the Roof. The spread Miranda gave to Shepard was good old Vegemite. The cartoon they watch in Chapter 3 is The Iron Giant (though to be fair, I gave no clues as to what it was so that is just my 'head cannon' you could say). And finally, the movie they watched in Chapter 4 was Some Like It Hot (After all, "nobody's perfect").


End file.
